SIGNATURES
U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
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(a) (b) (c) ECF Login and Password as Signature; Format of Signature Block. The user login and password required to submit documents to the ECF system shall serve as that user's signature for purposes of Fed. R. Civ. P. 11 and for all other purposes under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and these Local Rules. All electronically filed documents must include a signature block with the attorney's name, bar registration number, address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Restrictions on Use of ECF Login and Password.
No Filing User or other person may knowingly permit or cause to permit a Filing User’s password to be used by anyone other than an authorized agent of the Filing User. Documents Requiring Multiple Signatures. The filer of any document requiring more than one signature (e.g., pleadings filed by pro hac vice lawyers, stipulations, joint status reports) must list thereon all the names of other signatories with a signature block for each as described in (a). By submitting such a document, the filing attorney certifies that each of the other signatories has expressly agreed to the form and substance of the document and that the filing attorney has their actual authority to submit the document electronically.
A signatory or party who disputes the authenticity of an electronically filed document containing such “signatures” must file an objection to the document within 14 days of service of the NEF. The filing attorney shall retain any records evidencing this concurrence for future production, if necessary. Effective 12/1/19: §(c) amended. Effective 12/1/18: §§(a) and (c) amended.
Effective 1/3/11: Rule added. CROSS-REFERENCES See LR Gen 204 (Pro Hac Vice Counsel); LR Gen 304(b) (Confidentiality of Login and Password); LR Cv 5 (Form and Filing of Documents); LR Cr 57 (Form and Filing of Documents). See also Fed. R. Civ. P. 11. 61 U.S. DISTRICT COURT LOCAL RULES – GENERAL/ATTORNEY RULES LR Gen 311 TECHNICAL FAILURE; FILING USER SYSTEM FAILURE (a) (b) (c) (d) Definition.
A technical failure is deemed to have occurred when the Court’s ECF site cannot accept filings continuously or intermittently over the course of any period of time greater than one hour after 12:00 p.m. (noon) on a given day. Known system outages will be posted on the Court’s website, if possible. Filing Options. A Filing User experiencing a technical failure may conventionally file the document or send the PDF document to an email address set up by the Court, if it is accompanied by a declaration attesting to the Filing User’s attempts to timely file the document using ECF.
Relief. A Filing User whose filing is made untimely as the result of a technical failure of the Court’s ECF site may seek appropriate relief from the Court. Filing User System Failure. Problems on the Filing User’s end, such as connection problems, problems with the Filing User’s Internet Service Provider (ISP), or hardware or software problems, will not constitute a technical failure under LR Gen 311(a) nor excuse an untimely filing.
However, the Filing User may conventionally file the document or send the PDF document to an email address set up by the Court, if it is accompanied by a declaration attesting to the Filing User’s attempts to timely file the document using ECF. Effective 1/3/11: Rule added.