ELECTRONIC CASE FILING

Local Bankruptcy Rule 5005-4 shall be read in conjunction with the Administrative Guide to Practice and Procedure. The guide is available from the Office of the Clerk of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina and is maintained on the court's web site at: http://www.nceb.uscourts.gov. In the event of a conflict between the Local Bankruptcy Rules and the Administrative Guide to Practice and Procedure, the Local Bankruptcy Rules shall control. (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) Rule 5005-4(1) ASSIGNMENT TO SYSTEM AND FILING REQUIREMENTS ASSIGNMENT.

All cases are assigned to the Electronic Case Filing System ("ECF System").

APPLICATION FOR EXCEPTION/EXEMPTION.

Any document required to be filed electronically, but presented in paper form, shall be accompanied by an application for an exception or exemption from this rule and a proposed order granting the relief sought. The application shall state the reason(s) why electronic filing would impose an extreme hardship on the applicant.

EXEMPTION FROM ELECTRONIC FILING REQUIREMENT.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, pro se individuals and other parties who have been granted an exception or exemption from electronic filing are not required to electronically file pleadings and other documents in cases assigned to the ECF System, but are required to comply with Local Bankruptcy Rules 5005-2 and 5005-3 above. Rule 5005-4(2) ELIGIBILITY, REGISTRATION AND PASSWORDS ELIGIBILITY AND REGISTRATION. Attorneys admitted to the bar of this court, the bankruptcy administrator, private trustees, and others as the court deems appropriate, may register as Filing Users or Filing Agents of the court's Electronic Case Filing System. Registration is in the form prescribed by and available from the clerk.

The registration forms are published on the court's web site www.nceb.uscourts.gov.

FILING AGENT.

All references within these rules to filings made by the Filing User shall likewise refer to filings made by a Filing Agent on behalf of the Filing User.

ELECTRONIC NOTICE AND SERVICE; WAIVERS.

As to all documents properly filed and served electronically, registration as a Filing User constitutes (1) a waiver of the right to receive notice or service by first class mail or personal delivery; and (2) consent to electronic service pursuant to Local Bankruptcy Rule 5005-4(9), except with regard to 48 service of a summons and complaint under Rule 7004 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, a motion initiating a contested matter under Rule 9014 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, and with regard to any other applicable rule or statute pursuant to which service by mail is not permitted. Waiver and consent pursuant to this subsection (c) applies to notice of the entry of an order or judgment under Rule 9022 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure. Rule 5005-4(3) CONSEQUENCES OF ELECTRONIC FILING; DEADLINES FILING. Electronic transmission of a document to the Electronic Case Filing System consistent with these rules, together with the transmission of a Notice of Electronic Filing from the clerk, constitutes filing of the document for all purposes of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and the Local Bankruptcy Rules of this court, and constitutes entry of the document on the docket kept by the clerk under Rule 5003 of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.

OFFICIAL RECORD.

When a document has been filed electronically or imaged by the court, the official record is the electronic recording of the document as stored by the clerk, and the filing party is bound by the document as filed. A document filed electronically is deemed filed at the date and time stated on the Notice of Electronic Filing.

DEADLINES UNCHANGED BY ELECTRONIC FILING.

Filing a document electronically does not alter the filing deadline for that document. Filing must be completed before 12:00 midnight, Eastern Time, in order to be considered timely filed that day. Rule 5005-4(4) ENTRY OF COURT ORDERS; ISSUANCE OF ELECTRONIC SUMMONS FILING OF COURT ORDERS; EFFECT OF ELECTRONIC FILING ON COURT ORDERS. All orders or other documents generated by the court and filed electronically, with the electronic signature of a judge, shall have the same force and effect as if the judge had affixed the judge's signature to a paper copy of the order.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS FOR JUDGE'S SIGNATURE.

Any document submitted for a judge's signature in a case assigned to the ECF System must be submitted electronically to the clerk's office in the format specified by the Administrative Guide to Practice and Procedure.

ISSUANCE OF ELECTRONIC SUMMONS.

The clerk may sign, seal, and issue a summons electronically, although a summons may not be served electronically. (a) (b) (c) (a) (b) (c) 49 (a) (b) (a) (b) Rule 5005-4(5) FORMAT; ATTACHMENTS AND EXHIBITS All documents filed electronically within the ECF System are subject to the same rules pertaining to format as documents filed in paper form, including but not limited to Local Bankruptcy Rule 5005-3, and in the Administrative Guide to Practice and Procedure. Filing Users must submit, in electronic form, all documents referenced as exhibits or attachments as provided in Local Bankruptcy Rule 5005-1(c), unless the court permits paper filing pursuant to Local Bankruptcy Rules 5005-1, 5005-2 and 5005-3. Excerpted material must be clearly and prominently identified as such.

Rule 5005-4(6) SEALED DOCUMENTS Prior to the filing of any document in an action assigned to the ECF system, any person may apply by motion for an order allowing the filing of such document under seal, or limiting the electronic access to, any specifically-identified document, as provided by 11 U.S.C. § 107 or as authorized by law. For a highly sensitive document to be filed under seal, the motion requesting that relief must identify the document as being a highly sensitive document, as defined by the General Order regarding Procedures for the Filing, Service, and Management of Highly Sensitive Documents, entered by the court on February 9, 2021. A motion to file a document under seal or subject to restricted access may be filed electronically. Contemporaneously with the filing of such a motion, a proposed order authorizing the filing of a document under seal or subject to restricted access shall also be uploaded electronically.

(1) If the document requested to be filed under seal or subject to restricted access is not a highly sensitive document, a copy of the document requested to be filed under seal or subject to restricted access shall be attached to the uploaded order unless the document was previously filed with the court. If the document requested to be filed under seal is a highly sensitive document, it shall be provided to the clerk’s office in paper form or via email rather than attached to the uploaded order, and the uploaded order shall identify the document as a highly sensitive document. (2) (c) After entry of an order authorizing the filing of the document under seal or subject to restricted access, the person requesting the document be filed under seal or subject to restricted access shall coordinate with the clerk’s office the process to be followed to electronically file the document in question as a private event. 50 Rule 5005-4(7) ORIGINAL SIGNATURES AND RETENTION REQUIREMENTS A Filing User must obtain original signatures prior to filing on all electronically filed documents that require original signatures from any person other than the Filing User (e.g., petitions, lists, schedules, statements, amendments, affidavits, verifications, and other documents that require verification under Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1008 or an unsworn declaration as provided in 28 U.S.C. § 1746), which documents must be maintained by the Filing User in paper form, bearing the original signatures, for four years after the closing of the case or proceeding in which the documents were filed.

Upon the court's request, the Filing User must provide the original signed documents for review. Except as provided above when original signatures are required on a document, a Filing User may electronically file documents (including the submission of proposed consent orders) signed by persons other than the Filing User without obtaining the original signature of such persons on the document, provided that the Filing User first has confirmed that the content of the document is acceptable to all persons required to sign the document and has obtained in writing proof that the document has been signed, or that each signature is authorized, by all persons (e.g., a faxed signature, scanned signature, or e-mail authorized signature). The Filing User shall retain the writing evidencing or authorizing each signature on the document for four years after the closing of the case or proceeding in which the documents were filed. Upon the court’s request, the Filing User must provide the writing(s) evidencing or authorizing the signature(s) on the document for review.

Rule 5005-4(8) SIGNATURES AND CERTIFICATION ELECTRONIC FILING CONSTITUTES SIGNATURE AND CERTIFICATION. The use of the login and password of the Filing User, or of a Filing Agent registered to file on behalf of the Filing User, together with that person’s name on a signature block, to electronically file any petition, pleading, motion, claim, or other document shall constitute the signature of that Filing User on the electronically filed document for purposes of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, including Rule 9011, the Local Bankruptcy Rules of this court, and any other purpose for which a signature is required in connection with proceedings before this court. Use of the login and password of the Filing User, or of a Filing Agent registered to file on behalf of the Filing User, also shall constitute certification by the Filing User that: (1) all persons indicated to have signed the document have actually executed the original or a copy of the original, or have approved the content of and authorized their signature on the document, prior to electronic filing; and (2) the Filing User has authorized the electronic filing of the executed document.

USE OF LOGIN/PASSWORD.

No Filing User or other person may knowingly permit or cause to permit a Filing User's or a Filing Agent’s password to be used by anyone other than an agent of the Filing User authorized to use such login and password. (a) (b) (a) (b) 51 Rule 5005-4(9) SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS BY ELECTRONIC OR CONVENTIONAL MEANS; CALCULATION OF RESPONSE TIME (a) (b) (c) (d) CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE REQUIRED. A Filing User who electronically files a pleading or other document in a case assigned to the ECF System must include a certificate of service indicating how service was made.

SERVICE OF NOTICE OF ELECTRONIC FILING TO FILING USERS.

Service of an electronically filed document on other Filing Users may be made by transmitting or causing transmission of a "Notice of Electronic Filing" to those other Filing Users. Electronic service of process is not effective for purposes of obtaining service of process under Rules 7001 or 9014, Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.

CONVENTIONAL SERVICE OF DOCUMENTS AND NOTICE TO NON- CONSENTING PARTIES.

Parties who are entitled to service of a document but who have not consented to electronic service must be served with a paper copy of the document in compliance with the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and the Local Bankruptcy Rules.

CALCULATION OF RESPONSE TIME.

Rule 9006(f) of the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure applies to the calculation of deadlines for responses to electronically filed pleadings and other documents. Rule 5005-4(10) TECHNICAL FAILURES A Filing User whose filing is made untimely as the result of a technical failure may seek appropriate relief from the court. Rule 5005-4(11) LIMITATION ON PUBLIC ACCESS Material filed on the ECF System shall not be accessed or downloaded for any purpose inconsistent with the privacy concerns of any person. Rule 5005-4(12) FILING PAPERS AFTER HOURS (a) (b) AFTER HOURS FILINGS.

Except as otherwise authorized by the Court, non-ECF filers may file petitions and other papers outside of normal business hours by email or facsimile pursuant to the provisions of this Local Rule.

TIME AND MANNER OF FILING.

Papers may be filed in portable document format (PDF) by email to [email protected] or by facsimile to 919- 52 (c) (d) 334-3855 when the clerk’s office is not open. The email or facsimile shall contain only the first page and the signature page of the document.

FILING OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENT.

The entire original paper document, together with any required filing fee, must be filed in person and time-stamped by the clerk no later than 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the next business day that the clerk’s office is open after the email or facsimile filing.

CLERK’S OFFICE PROCEDURES CONCERNING EMAILED DOCUMENTS.

If the original document is not timely filed after the email or facsimile transmittal pursuant to subsection (c) above, the clerk will note that fact on the docket and the emailed or faxed document will have no force or effect. The clerk’s office will not acknowledge the filing of a document or assign a case number or adversary proceeding number to a document unless the original is timely filed pursuant to the provisions of subsection (c) of this rule. Upon timely receipt of the original document and any required fee, the clerk will stamp the following notation on the document: “This document is deemed filed on (date) pursuant to L.B.R. 5005-4(12), ‘Filing Papers After Hours.’” Documents filed in accordance with this rule will be deemed filed on the date and at the time the email addressed to [email protected] or facsimile sent to 919-334-3855 is received.

53 PART VI COLLECTION AND LIQUIDATION OF THE ESTATE