ELECTRONIC FILING AND SERVICE

(a) Electronic Service of Pleadings and Other Filed Documents. For all electronic filings not required to be served under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4, receipt of the Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) generated by CM/ECF shall constitute service of the electronically filed document on persons registered as Electronic Filing Users. Electronic service is complete upon transmission. (b) Electronic Service Upon Pro Se Parties.

Except for documents required to be served pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 4, pro se parties may consent in writing to receive electronic service of documents from CM/ECF. A pro se party who consents to service via CM/ECF must complete and sign a Consent to Electronic Service form for each case in which the pro se party consents to electronic service. The Consent to Electronic Service form is available on the Court’s website or from the Clerk’s Office. Consent to electronic service will not be effective until the Clerk’s Office dockets the signed consent form in the applicable case.

Once a pro se party’s consent to electronic service is docketed and effective, the pro se party may be served through CM/ECF. Absent consent under this rule, a pro se party can be served by any means authorized by Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(b)(2). (c) Effect and Timing of Electronic Filing. Each electronically filed document, as stored by the Court, becomes a part of the Court's official record and the filing party is bound by the document as filed.

An electronically filed document is deemed filed as of the date and time stated in the NEF generated by the CM/ECF system. Filing a document electronically does not alter the filing deadline for that document. For a document to be considered timely filed 3 on a deadline date, the filing must be completed on the deadline date before midnight Central Time. LR 5.03 − REQUESTS TO SEAL DOCUMENTS OR PORTIONS OF DOCUMENTS (a) Motion Required.

Any party requesting that documents or portions of documents be sealed must file a motion for leave to file the document(s) under seal in accordance with LR 7.01. (b) Procedures for Filing Motions to Seal in CM/ECF. Follow these instructions carefully. Failure to do so may result in the documents being immediately accessible to all parties or members of the public.

If documents are erroneously filed not under seal, the Clerk’s office cannot correct that error without an order from the Court to seal the documents. (1) File a motion for Leave to File Document Under Seal via CM/ECF. DO NOT attach the document to be sealed to this motion at this stage. (2) Immediately after filing the motion, file the proposed sealed document by selecting the “Sealed Document” event in CM/ECF.

Access to the document will remain restricted until the Court rules on the motion to seal. When documents are ordered to be placed under seal, such documents will be electronically accessible only to the Court. (c) Contents of Motion to Seal. The motion for leave to seal or the response to a motion under subsection (d), even if unopposed, must provide compelling reasons to overcome the presumption that court records are open to the public.

The motion to seal must show that the sealing is narrowly tailored to the stated reasons by specifically analyzing in detail, document by document, the propriety of secrecy, providing supporting facts and legal authority. Failure to provide sufficiently compelling reasons may result in denial of the request to seal documents or portions of documents. An unopposed motion or agreed order that does not address the standards for sealing documents does not comply with this rule. (d) Use of Document by Party Not Designating Documents as Confidential.

The party intending to use information or documents designated in discovery as confidential must file a motion to seal under LR 7.01(a). However, the party who designated the materials as confidential or otherwise seeks to restrict access to the materials retains the burden of meeting the requirements set out in subsection (c), either in a joint motion to seal or in a response under LR 7.01(a)(3). (e) Redacted Filing. If practicable, the party requesting that some or all of a filing be sealed must also separately file a redacted version.

If the filing of a redacted version is impracticable, the motion to seal must include an affirmative statement to that effect. (f) Protective Orders. Proposed protective orders should not provide that documents produced in discovery and designated as “confidential” will be automatically sealed upon filing or if used at trial. Any such language in proposed protective orders may be stricken and may result in denial of the motion for entry of the proposed protective order.

4 LR 6.01 − COMPUTING AND EXTENDING TIMES (a) Extensions of Deadlines Generally. Unless otherwise provided in a case management order or other order, a request for an extension of time not made in open court or at a case management or status conference must: (1) Be made by written motion; (2) State the original deadline and the requested deadline; (3) Provide the reasons why an extension is requested; and (4) If all parties are represented by counsel, either: (A) State whether there is any objection to the extension by counsel for any other party; or (B) If counsel cannot be reached, describe all attempts made to confer with all other counsel and the results of such attempts. (b) Exception for Discovery Responses. This requirement does not apply to deadlines for responding to discovery, which may be agreed to by the parties without the necessity of an order of the Court, provided such extension does not interfere with the case management schedule, other case deadlines, or scheduled hearings.