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News & Announcements

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.

October 25, 2016
Pilot Began July 1, 2014 – Permanent Status Approved October 5, 2016 If you are interested in volunteering for the Civil Pro Bono Counsel Panel, please contact Emmy Schroeter by e-mail or at 504-589-7585. The Eastern District of Louisiana created a Civil Pro Bono Program on July 1, 2014. Given its success, the program has been made permanent as of October 5, 2016.  When the Court has an eligible case requiring civil pro bono counsel, a member of an established Civil Pro Bono Counsel Panel will be appointed to the case. The goal is to furnish pro bono service to eligible litigants who request counsel but lack the financial resources to hire a lawyer.  Full Page View
October 21, 2016
Notice of Proposed Amendments to 5TH CIRCUIT RULES 26, 28, 29, 31 and 32. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2071, the 5th Circuit gives notice the circuit court is considering amending 5TH CIR. R. 26, 28, 29, 31 and 32 as shown in the document linked above. Additionally, the circuit court is studying possible changes with respect to new word count limitations in the December 1, 2016 amendments to FRAP Rules 5, 21, 27, 28.1, 32, 35 and 40.
October 12, 2016
Pursuant to Rule 83 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Public Notice is hereby given of the proposed adoption of the newly revised Rules for Lawyer Disciplinary Enforcement and proposed adoption of new Rules for Disability Inactive Status for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Full Page View
August 26, 2016
On August 23, 2016, the Honorable Helen Ginger Berrigan, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana, notified President Barack Obama that effective on that date, having attained the requisite age and met the service requirements for assuming senior status, she retired from active service as a United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Louisiana under 28 U.S.C. § 371(b). Judge Berrigan was nominated to be a United States District Judge by President William J. Clinton on November 18, 1993, and received her commission on March 10, 1994. She served as Chief Judge of the Eastern District of Louisiana from 2001 until 2008, and was the chief judge during Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.
August 19, 2016
MISCELLANEOUS ORDER Counsel or Parties who believe that deadlines for filing of any motion in a pending case have been, or will be immediately affected by the recent flooding in Louisiana may be offered relief by the filing of a motion for extension, even if past the filing deadline. Any late-filed request for extension should set forth in detail the circumstances for such late filing.  Click here for the MISCELLANEOUS ORDER.
August 12, 2016
In 2016, the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure approved publication of proposed amendments to the following rules and forms for a comment period from August 12, 2016 through February 15, 2017. Civil Rules 5, 23, 62, and 65.1 Criminal Rules 12.4, 45, and 49 Appellate Rules 8, 11, 25, 28.1, 29, 31, 39, 41, and Form 4 Bankruptcy Rules 3002.1, 5005, 8002, 8006, 8011, 8013, 8015, 8016, 8017, new Rule 8018.1, 8022, 8023, and new Part VIII Appendix; and Official Forms 309F, 417A, 417C, 425A, 425B, 425C, and 426 Read the text of the proposed amendments and supporting materials: Preliminary Draft of Proposed Amendments to the Federal Rules of Appellate, Bankruptcy, Civil, and Criminal Procedure
August 9, 2016
In an effort to better assist members of the bar, the maximum file size allowed by the Court’s Electronic Case Filing system has been increased from 10 MB to 35 MB per upload.  The increase in file size will save counsel of record and their staff members a great deal of effort by allowing larger yet fewer uploads per filing transaction. As a reminder, The Court prefers and recommends that all PDF documents filed in CM/ECF be converted as opposed to scanned. Scanners should be used only for documents (such as exhibits and attachments) that cannot be produced with a word-processing program. E-filing converted PDF documents allows judicial officers and their staff to access cited cases and statutes directly using an internal tool which converts them to a hyperlink. Not only are these documents text searchable and smaller in size, but they also allow the Court to easily adjust orders and other submissions as needed. All documents created in a word processing format can be easily converted to PDF as opposed to scanned. Instructions for converting documents to PDF can be found by following this link.
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.

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