The Minnesota Supreme Court has issued an order related to mandatory e-filing in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties beginning September 1, 2012. Those counties are part of the Second and Fourth Judicial Districts.
The court’s adopted new e-filing rules on May 24, 2012. The Minnesota Supreme Court’s e-filing order establishes new rules which every lawyer – family law or otherwise – will need to know about. The Order updates the Minnesota Civil Rules, General Rules of Practice, and the Public Access Rules.
As reported by the Minnesota Practice Blawg, lawyers should keep in mind the following things:
- Filing by fax will no longer be permitted in cases where e-filing is required.
- Documents that are to be filed electronically must be formatted as Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, PDF files, or .tif files. Without leave from the court, all images must be in black and white – no color images will be retained by the e-filing system.
- Each electronic document must be smaller than 5MB and each filing must be smaller than 25 MB. Larger documents or filings may be filed in several parts.
- Attorneys representing parties and governmental agencies appearing in mandatory e-filing cases must register with the e-filing system upon filing of any document by any party.
- New Rule 14.06 establishes a procedure for designating confidential or sealed documents that will be filed electronically.
- In addition to the required e-filing described above, voluntary e-filing is permitted in conciliation and probate mental health courts in Hennepin and Ramsey Counties as designated by the respective courts. Voluntary e-filing in civil cases in other pilot locations designated by the state court administrator will continue to be permitted.
Clearly, these are rules which every Minnesota lawyer needs to know.
-This post was written by Joseph M. Flanders, an Apple Valley MN attorney.
