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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 24-2

THE COURTS

Title 255—LOCAL COURT RULES

CENTRE COUNTY

Local Civil Rule 205.4; No: 2021-22-CM

[54 Pa.B. 11]
[Saturday, January 6, 2024]

Order

 And Now, December 19, 2023, Local Civil Rule 205.4, Paragraph E(1) is amended to read that Upon receipt of the legal paper, the Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall provide the filing party with an acknowledgement, which includes the date and time the legal paper was received by the Electronic Filing System. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall also provide the filing party with notice that the legal paper was accepted for filing. All filing must be received by 3:30 pm to be timestamped for that business day.

 This change in time shall be effective February 5, 2024. In all other respects the Local Rule is reaffirmed in its entirety.

By the Court

JONATHAN D. GRINE, 
President Judge

Rule 205.4. Electronic Filing.

A. Electronic Filing

 1. The Centre County Court of Common Pleas hereby permits the electronic filing of legal papers and the electronic service of such papers under the terms described in this Local Rule. In the context of this rule, ''legal papers'' which may be filed electronically do not include cases involving Domestic Relations, Protection From Abuse, Orphans' Court, and Mental Health/Intellectual Disability.

B. Form of Documents Electronically Filed

 1. All electronic filings shall be in Portable Document Format (PDF) or any other electronic format, if any, that the Court by local rule designates. A paper presented for filing in a format other that PDF shall be converted to PDF and maintained by the Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts in that format.

 2. A legal paper fled electronically shall be deemed the original document. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall maintain a hard copy of the document filed.

 3. Scanned signatures will be accepted as originals. An electronically filed document shall be deemed to have been signed by the filer if it bears a facsimile or typographical signature of the filer, e.g./s/John Doe. The electronic filing of legal paper constitutes a certification by the filing party that a hard copy of the legal paper was properly signed and, where applicable, verified; and a certification as provided by the signature to a legal paper under Pa.R.C.P. 1023.1(c), the violation of which shall be subject to the sanction provided by Pa.R.C.P. 1023.1(d).

 4. The filing party shall maintain the signed hard copy of the document filed for two (2) years after the later of: the disposition of the case; the entry of an order resolving the issue raised by the legal paper; or, the disposition by an appellate court of the issue raised by the legal paper.

 5. Any other party at any time may serve upon the filing party a notice to produce for inspection the signed hard copy within fourteen (14) days of service of the notice. The Court upon motion may grant appropriate sanctions for failure to produce the signed hard copy pursuant of the notice.

 6. As required by Pa.R.C.P. 205.5, the filing party shall include the statewide cover sheet with the initial filing.

C. Access

 1. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall provide electronic access at all times.

 2. All legal papers that are filed electronically shall be filed through the Prothonotary/Clerk of Court's Electric Filing System which shall be accessible at Prothonotary/ClerkofCourts-orders@centrecountypa.gov.

 3. Prothonotary/ClerkofCourts-orders@centrecountypa.gov. shall only be used for filing documents and not for any other purposes.

 4. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts, Courts or Court Administrator shall not be obligated to print documents that are filed electronically. A fee will be charged for any documents exceeding 25 pages which need to be printed by the Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts, including a hard copy of any pleadings.

D. Filing Fees

 1. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts will accept for payment of filing fees the following credit and debit cards: American Express, Discover, Master Card and Visa. Any convenience fee charged will be the responsibility of the filer. The prothonotary will not accept advance deposit on account of future filing fees.

E. Time of Filing

 1. Upon receipt of the legal paper, the Prothonotary/ Clerk of Courts shall provide the fling party with an acknowledgement, which includes the date and time the legal paper was received by the Electronic Filing System. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall also provide the filing party with notice that the legal paper was accepted for filing. All filings must be received by 3:30 pm to be time stamped for that business day.

 2. The Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall affix ''Filed by Email'' near the timestamp.

 3. If a legal paper is not accepted upon presentation for filing or is refused for filing by the Electronic Filing System, the Prothonotary/Clerk of Courts shall immediately, or if the office is closed, immediately upon opening, notify the party presenting the legal paper for filing of the date of presentation, the fact the document was not accepted or refused for filing by the system, and the reason it was not accepted or refused.

 4. A filing party shall be responsible for any delay, disruption, interruption of the electronic signals and legibility of the document electronically filed, except when caused by the failure of the electronic filing system's website.

F. Service of Legal Papers

 1. Once the electronic filing has been accepted, it shall be the responsibility of the filing party to provide the Sheriff with the proper service fee and the documents for Original Service and Writs.

 This amended rule (changing the time for electronic filing to 3:30 pm to be stamped for that business day in Paragraph E(1)) is effective February 5, 2024.

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 24-2. Filed for public inspection January 5, 2024, 9:00 a.m.]


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