The United States District Court for the District of Northern California Announces Rule Changes Effective September 27, 2022

The California Civil Rules of Procedure have been updated effective September 27, 2022. See the complete updated rules here. The changes affect deadlines found in Civil Local Rule 5-1. Specifically, Civil Local Rule 5-1 affects the electronic filing of initiating documents, and instructs the use of the ECF system. The new rules are listed below each superseded rule for your comparison and review.

SUPERSEDED: Civil Local Rule 5-1(d)(1) (“Filing Initiating Documents. Except for cases filed by a pro se party who is not a registered e-filer, civil complaints and other case initiating documents in civil cases must be filed electronically. Criminal complaints, indictments and informations, including superseding indictments and informations, and other case-initiating documents in criminal cases shall be filed and served manually rather than electronically. In addition, all manually filed initiating documents in civil and criminal cases shall be submitted to the assigned judge by email in electronic form (PDF format only) within seven days of the filing of initiating documents. A list of the email addresses for each judge for PDF follow up submissions of initiating documents may be found on the Court’s website.”) (cite last verified September 2020).

EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 27, 2022: Civil Local Rule 5-1(d)(1) (“Filing Initiating Documents. Except for manual filings by a pro se party who is filing case-initiating documents or is not a registered e-filer, all civil complaints and other case initiating documents in civil cases must be filed electronically.”).  

SUPERSEDED:  Civil Local Rule 5-1(d)(2) (“If not already registered, the defendant’s counsel shall register to become an ECF user following the procedures outlined on the ECF website, and shall file the responsive pleading electronically.”).

EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 27, 2022: Civil LR 5-1(d)(2) (“Service and Answer. After a defendant or third-party defendant has been served, defendant’s counsel shall register to become an ECF user following the procedures outlined on the ECF webpage, and shall file the responsive pleading electronically. If the defendant or third-party defendant is pro se and is not a registered ECF user, the responsive pleading must be filed and served manually.”).

SUPERSEDED: Civil Local Rule 5-1(d)(3) (“Upon the filing of a third-party complaint, the third-party plaintiff shall serve upon the third-party defendant along with the third-party complaint, the ECF Registration Information Handout available from the Clerk’s Office and on the ECF website.”).

EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 27, 2022: Civil LR 5-1(d)(3) (“Completion of Filing. Electronic transmission of a document in compliance with court procedures shall, upon receipt by the Clerk of the entire document and the sending of a Notice of Electronic Filing (“NEF”) by the ECF system, constitute filing of the document for all purposes and shall constitute entry of that document on the docket maintained by the Clerk pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 58 and 79, and Fed. R. Crim. P. 49 and 55.”).