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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 23-752

THE COURTS

Title 255—LOCAL COURT RULES

DAUPHIN COUNTY

Promulgation of Local Rules; No. 1793 S 1989

[53 Pa.B. 3079]
[Saturday, June 10, 2023]

Order

 And Now, this 25th day of May, 2023, Dauphin County Local Rule of Civil Procedure 205.4 is promulgated as follows:

Rule 205.4. Electronic Filing and Service of Legal Papers.

 (A) General Provisions

 (1) All legal papers may be filed electronically with the Prothonotary through its Electronic Filing System (EFS), CountySuite Portal, beginning on a date set by Administrative Order of the President Judge.

 (2) As used in this rule, electronic filing (e-filing) shall mean the electronic transmission of legal papers by means other than facsimile transmission or e-mail using the system made available by the Prothonotary. See Pa.R.Civ.P. 205.4(a)(2).

 (3) Registration

 (a) Electronic filers must register with CountySuite Portal in accordance with the CountySuite Portal User Manual.

 (b) All registered users must be individuals and not entities, including but not limited to law firms, agencies, corporations, or government entities.

 (c) Registered users shall change their address or other contact information with the CountySuite Portal within ten (10) days of any change.

 (B) Form of Documents Electronically Filed

 (1) Format

 Legal papers shall be presented for filing in a portable document format (PDF).

 (2) Title of Documents

 The title of each electronically filed document shall include:

 (a) Descriptive title of the document;

 (b) Party or parties filing the document;

 (c) Party or parties against whom relief, if any, is sought; and

 (d) Nature of the relief sought (e.g., Motion for Summary Judgment of Defendant ABC Corp. against Plaintiff Jones).

 (3) Signature and Verification

 (a) The electronic filing of legal papers utilizing the username and password constitutes the party's signature. The legal paper must include a signature block and the name of the filer under whose username and password the legal paper is submitted. The legal paper may be submitted with the filer's scanned signature or /s/ and the filer's name typed in the space where the signature would otherwise appear on the legal paper. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court Attorney Identification Number must be included under the signature line. The correct format of the attorney signature is:

 /s/ Attorney Name
PA Supreme Court ID #
Attorney for ______
Name of Law Firm
Address
Telephone Number
E-Mail Address
FAX Number

 (b) The Verification required by Pa.R.Civ.P. 206.3 and Pa.R.Civ.P. 1024 and the signature page(s) of any document or legal paper executed by any party other than the filing party must be included in the electronic filing in PDF format at the time the legal paper is submitted.

 (C) Public Access to the Docket

 (1) Public access to the Prothonotary's docket and EFS are available on the internet at www.dauphincounty.gov/prothonotary.

 (2) The Prothonotary shall also make a public access terminal available to the general public to allow access to the Court's electronic case record in all electronically filed cases in the Prothonotary's office. The public access terminals will provide the same level of access to cases that is provided to the public excluding any cases sealed by court order, statute, or rule of court.

 (D) Fees

 (1) The Prothonotary will accept the following credit cards for payment of all e-filing fees: Discover, MasterCard and Visa. The Prothonotary will not accept advance deposits for payment of future filing. Electronic filers shall alert the Prothonotary's Office of any payment errors as soon as possible and not later than forty-five (45) days of the payment date.

 (2) The Prothonotary is authorized to charge a convenience fee, as set by Order of the President Judge.

 (E) Filings Under Seal

 (1) Documents intended to be filed under seal shall be designated by the filing party as ''sealed'' in the CountySuite Portal. However, designation of documents as ''sealed'' does not seal the documents. In addition to making the designation in the CountySuite Portal, the filing party must also submit a Motion to Seal at the same time as the legal paper intended to be sealed. The motion shall outline the reasons why the legal paper should be sealed and shall follow motion procedure set forth in Local Rule of Civil Procedure 208.3(a) and (b).

 (2) Confidential Information Forms and documents properly filed with a Confidential Document Form pursuant to Case Records Public Access Policy of the Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania will be sealed without motion.

 (3) The filing details and document title will appear in the EFS. The sealed documents and Confidential Information Forms can be viewed only by the Court, Court staff, Court Administration, Prothonotary staff, and case participants.

 (F) Filing

 (1) The Prothonotary shall provide access to its EFS at all times except during periods of required maintenance.

 (2) The date and time of filing of a legal paper shall be recorded by the EFS. The EFS shall provide the filing party with an electronic mail acknowledgement which includes the date and time the legal paper was received by the EFS.

 (3) Once filed, the legal paper shall be reviewed by the Prothonotary, and the filing party will receive notification that the legal paper was either accepted or rejected. Legal documents will only be reviewed by the Prothonotary staff during normal business hours. The date of an approved filing shall be the date the document was received by the EFS, not the date of approval.

 (4) The review conducted by the Prothonotary does not address any deficiencies that might be noted in a ''non-entertaining order'' after reviewed by the Court.

 (5) When the legal paper is accepted by the Prothonotary, the electronic document is the official record. An electronic filer is not required to file any paper copies unless specifically required by the Court.

 (6) If a legal paper is accepted for filing by the Prothonotary, it shall be deemed to have been filed the date and time it was received by the EFS. If a legal paper is submitted without the requisite fees, the legal paper shall be deemed to have been accepted for filing as of the date payment is received.

 (7) Exhibits that are filed electronically do not constitute the original of the exhibit for evidentiary purposes.

 (8) Neither the Prothonotary's Office nor Court Administration shall be obligated to print documents that are filed electronically.

 (G) Service

 (1) The filing party is responsible for service of the filed documents in accordance with the applicable rules of court. The EFS does not have a service component.

 (2) Once an electronic filing has been accepted by the Prothonotary, it shall be the responsibility of the filing party to provide to the Sheriff the proper service fee and documents for original service and writs.

 (H) Miscellaneous

 (1) The filing deadline for any document filed electronically shall be 11:59:59 p.m. EST/EDT on the date it is due.

 (2) If a registered user believes the unavailability of the EFS prevented a timely filing, the registered user may file a motion within ten (10) days of the registered user's attempt to file the document. The motion shall state the date and time of the first unsuccessful attempt to file the document electronically and why the delay was prejudicial.

 The above amendments shall be published in the Pennsylvania Bulletin and will become effective on the date that the President Judge issues the Administrative Order referenced in Rule 205.4(A)(1).

By the Court

JOHN F. CHERRY, 
President Judge

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 23-752. Filed for public inspection June 9, 2023, 9:00 a.m.]


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