Conducting Business; Clerk’s

Authority; Notice of an Order or Judgment (a) When Court Is Open. The court is considered always open for filing any paper, issuing and returning process, making a motion, or entering an order. (b) Place for Trial and Other Proceedings. (1) In General. Every trial on the merits must be conducted in open court and, so far as convenient, in a regular courtroom. Any other act or proceeding may be done or conducted by a judge in chambers, without the attendance of the clerk or other court official, or at any other place designated by order. (2) A Trial or Hearing in a Foreign Country. On motion or on the judge’s own initiative, and upon a determination by the judge to whom the case is assigned that the interests of economy, efficiency, and justice will be served, the chief judge may issue an order authorizing the judge to including evidentiary hearings and trials, in a foreign country whose laws do not prohibit such proceedings. (c) Clerk’s Office Hours; Clerk’s Orders. conduct proceedings, (1) Hours. The clerk’s office—with a clerk or deputy on duty—must be open during business hours every day except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. But the court may by order require that the office be open for specified hours on Saturday or a particular legal holiday other than one listed in RCFC 6(a)(6). (2) Orders. Subject to the court’s power to suspend, alter, or rescind the clerk’s action for good cause, the clerk may: (A) issue process; (B) enter a default; (C) [not used]; and (D) act on any other matter that does not require the court’s action. (d) Serving Notice of an Order or Judgment. (1) Service. Immediately after entering an order or judgment, the clerk must serve notice of the entry, as provided in RCFC 5(b), on each party who is not in default for failing to appear. The clerk must record the service on the docket. A party also may serve notice of the entry as provided in RCFC 5(b). (2) Time to Appeal Not Affected by Lack of Notice. Lack of notice of the entry does not affect the time for appeal or relieve— or authorize the court to relieve—a party for failing to appeal within the time allowed, except as allowed by Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(a). (As revised and reissued May 1, 2002; as amended Nov. 3, 2008, Aug. 3, 2015, Aug. 2, 2021.) Rules Committee Notes 2002 Revision To more closely parallel the structure and content of FRCP 77, RCFC 77 has been modified as follows: Former subdivisions (a) (referring to the court’s “Name”), (b) (referring to the court’s “Seal”), (d) (captioned “Citations”), and (e) (identifying the court’s judicial power as being exercisable by a single in congressional reference cases), have been deleted as unnecessary. judge, except its content, Subdivision (b) (formerly subdivision (h) of this rule) has been changed in two respects. First, the to reflect in order better subdivision has been retitled to read “Trials and Hearings; Proceedings in Chambers” (in lieu of “Trials and Hearings; Orders in Chambers”). Second, the subdivision has been divided into paragraphs (1) and (2). Paragraph (1), captioned “Proceedings Generally,” retains the rule’s earlier language; paragraph (2), captioned “Trials or Hearings in Foreign Countries,” has been added to recognize the court’s authority under 28 U.S.C. § 798(b) to conduct trials or hearings in foreign countries. Former subdivision (f), titled “Assignment of Cases,” was renumbered as RCFC 40.1. Former subdivision (g), titled “Signing of Orders for Absent Judges,” was renumbered as RCFC 77.2(b). 91 RCFC 77 Former subdivisions (l) and (k), titled, respectively, “Scheduling Courtrooms” and “Fee Schedule,” were renumbered as RCFC 77.1. Finally, former subdivision (m) was deleted in order to recognize the right of certain court employees to participate in pro bono legal work under the guidelines prescribed for that purpose by the Codes of Conduct for Judicial Employees. 2008 Amendment The language of RCFC 77 has been amended to conform to the general restyling of the FRCP. 2015 Amendment Rule 77(c)(1) has been amended in accordance with the corresponding change to FRCP 77(c)(1) that became effective December 1, 2014. 2021 Amendment RCFC 77(c)(2)(C), providing that the clerk may enter a default judgment under RCFC 55(b)(1), has been amended to reflect “not used,” consistent with RCFC 55(b)(1), which provides that the parallel provision of the FRCP is not used.