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News & Announcements: 2016-07

Check this page, or the News and Announcements box on the homepage, for the latest official news and announcements released by the court. You can also access archived news and announcements from this page.

July 26, 2016
On July 18, 2016, in a case originating from the Texas Western District, Sudduth v. Texas Health and Human Services Commission,___ F.3d ___, 2016 WL 3900647 (5th Cir. July 18, 2016), the Fifth Circuit held that a notice of appeal filed through the district court's CM/ECF system was untimely because the Notice of Electronic Filing generated by CM/ECF reflected that the notice was filed one day beyond the time required for filing a notice of appeal.  The electronic filing procedures in the Texas Western District Court required the parties to file their notices of appeal electronically and also provided that a notice of electronic filing with the time of filing and docketing is automatically generated by the CM/ECF system and that a document is not timely filed on a day unless the filing is completed before midnight.  The ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES FOR ELECTRONIC CASE FILINGS for the Louisiana Eastern District Court likewise require all pleadings and documents to be filed electronically in CM/ECF and provide that electronic transmission of a document to the Electronic Filing System  together with the transmission of a Notice of Electronic Filing constitutes filing of the document and entry of the document on the docket kept by the Clerk.   The Louisiana Eastern District Court's electronic filing rules also deem a document filed electronically to be filed on the date and at the time stated on the Court's Notice of Electronic Filing and note that the electronic filing of a document does not alter the filing deadline for that document and that filing must be completed before midnight local time where the Court is located in order to be timely filed on that day.    
July 26, 2016
During 2016, the Louisiana Eastern District Court has transitioned from Corel WordPerfect to Microsoft Word as its standard word processing program. We have taken this step due to the predominant use of Microsoft Word in the U.S. Courts, the legal community, and the agencies we interact with on a regular basis. This action is consistent with a recommendation from the Judicial Conference’s Committee on Information Technology and corresponds with the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts similar transition in October 2015. We anticipate that by August 1, 2016, our transition to Microsoft Word will be complete. After this date, the court requires that any word processed documents provided to the court be in Microsoft Word format to align with our transition. [Note: This does not change the requirement of the PDF format for e-filing into CM/ECF.]  
July 20, 2016
After a party files a notice of appeal, the Clerk’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana will file trial and evidentiary hearing exhibits in the court’s electronic case filing system (CM/ECF) so that they can become part of the Electronic Record on Appeal (EROA) at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.  The Clerk’s Office will issue a Notice of Redaction Responsibility advising the parties that, unless sealed by the court, admitted or proffered exhibits will be filed and docketed in CM/ECF and accessible by court users and case participants.  The parties will have 14 days to submit a redacted version of all trial or evidentiary hearing exhibits  which complies with the privacy protection requirements of the Federal Rules of Appellate, Civil, Criminal, and Bankruptcy Procedure and to file a motion to submit a redacted version of an exhibit which contains sensitive information.  Remote public access to all non-sealed exhibits will be provided upon request to those trial and hearing exhibits filed in CM/ECF which comply with the privacy protection requirements of the Federal Rules.   If the court allows a party to file a redacted version of an exhibit, only the redacted exhibit will be accessible by the public upon request. More details regarding the procedure the Clerk's Office will follow are included in "Clerk's Corner, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Louisiana, Trial Exhibits in CM/ECF", published in The Advocate, the newsletter of the Federal Bar Association, New Orleans Chapter, Summer edition, 2016.