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Federal Judiciary

Utah District Court Blog

This blog contains current public information regarding the Utah District Court CM/ECF Electronic Filing System. This blog is informal and unofficial.

Post Frequency: 2/day

Last Entry: January 06, 2010 at 18:13:00

Utah District Court CMECF Updates Blog - Closing Down

Posted on January 06, 2010
After a slow year of CM/ECF news for the District of Utah, it appears to be time to formally close this blog. Now that CM/ECF is routine, the blog has had less to record and share. The blog won't be deleted, for the possibility that it may return to life if there is a large change, but the court website will be the best resource for CM/ECF information until further notice.

Utah District Court Web Site Down

Posted on October 12, 2009
Due to a power outage at the circuit court level, the District of Utah internet site was down from Saturday October 10, 2009 at 6 am through Sunday October 11 at noon. During this time, the Court's CM/ECF portal was open, but this may have been unknown for those who customarily access CM/ECF via the link on the court's web site...

New Redaction Reminders

Posted on October 06, 2009
The court has loaded a new version 3.2.3 of CM/ECF. There is a new box that e-filers must check every time they log in. If the box is not checked this error message is displayed:You must check the redaction rules checkbox to login to CM/ECF.Also, the message on the last screen before submission has been changed to add: "Have you redacted?"

CM/ECF 4.0 May Renumber Old Docket Entries

Posted on September 30, 2009
Districts using CM/ECF version 4.0 (being tested in Utah now) report that this new version may create problems for existing documents which reference previously filed papers. While current CM/ECF versions number the main document filed as 5-1, and attachments as 5-2, 5-3, etc...

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PACER in the Spotlight

Posted on September 10, 2009
Two posts on yesterday's beSpacific blog highlight PACER and the attention recently focused on the for-fee service. The first post directs readers to the PACER spending survey directed to law libraries related to the law librarians' petition to improve PACER...

NARA says "Improve Your Image"

Posted on July 01, 2009
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has published higher standards for scanning resolution, which better support archival preservation. Threfore, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts is asking courts and attorneys to use scanner settings of 300 pixels per inch (ppi) or higher...

Tenth Circuit Moves To Electronic Filing

Posted on April 28, 2009
A General Order from the Tenth Circuit (March 18, 2009) marks the Circuit's move to electronic filing. " On March 31, 2009, the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit will transition to voluntary ECF. On June 1, 2009, ECF will become mandatory for counsel of record...

Privacy Awareness

Posted on April 09, 2009
In response to recent concerns about personal data appearing in court filings, the courts have modified the login pages of CM/ECF to "display a message to remind filing attorneys of their obligation to redact personalidentifiers."A recent letter from Senator Lieberman to the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure asked the courts to review their processes:I have concerns that not enough has been done to protect personalinformation contained in publicly available court filings, potentially violatinganother provision of the E-Government Act...

Wait a Minute Mr. Postman!

Posted on April 08, 2009
The court has received a rush of replies to CM/ECF Notices of Electronic Filing. Like movie stars, we don't reply to our e-mail, but we wonder what happens when these messages are not received by intended recipients. (click an image to see a larger version...

Unusual Signatures for Other Counsel

Posted on March 25, 2009
The Utah Administrative Procedures for electronic filing specify the way to denote the signature of other counsel on motions or stipulations. Two recent filings show those instructions may be confusing. The instructions require (i) /s/ and the typed name of the other attorney; (ii) a description of the reason justifying the signature; and (iii) an elecronic signature or /s/ and the typed name of the filing attorney:Signatures of Other Attorneys...

Once a Week is Enough to Review Email?

Posted on March 17, 2009
Not that the court monitors all auto-replies to Notices of Electronic Filing (sometimes we do get humorous/incriminating rants meant for opposing counsel, staff or the ether) but this one raised lots of speculation. Pursuant to my email management policy, your email will be retrieved and reviewed on March 19, 2009...

New Password Recovery Tool

Posted on March 13, 2009
The District of Utah has a new feature for attorneys who have lost their CMECF password. It is at the login screen on the outside server.Clicking on the link will take the user to a page where they can enter their login or their primary password, which will trigger an email that will allow them to reset their password...

What motions are pending in my case?

Posted on March 02, 2009

CM/ECF 4.0 Released to Select Courts

Posted on March 02, 2009

Electronic Summons - Return Filed

Posted on January 22, 2009
The first summons issued electronically by the clerk in the District of Utah has been returned. The header of the summons shows that it was docketed as issued on January 7th, and then docketed after service on January 14th.Under the new program, counsel may email summons to the court, which will affix a signature and seal and then return the summons to the attorney for service...

New York Times Praises Dual and Large Monitors

Posted on January 16, 2009
The most recent in many articles praising the productivity increases from large screen or dual monitors appeared in yesterday's New York Times. Farhad Manjoo says that his "experience confirmed [that] having a lot of screen space significantly raised my productivity...

Summons Issued Electronically by the Court

Posted on January 06, 2009
As of today, attorneys no longer need to come to the courthouse with paper to have a summons issued. This notice was sent to all members of the court's bar today.Notice From the Clerk of CourtAttorneys may request that the clerk of court issue summons in civil cases electronically...

PACER Alternative

Posted on December 15, 2008
The man who reportedly prodded the SEC into allowing free access to corporate filings has set his sights on PACER. According to WIRED, Carl Malamud, who runs the nonprofit open-government group Public.Resource.Org, is "asking lawyers to donate their PACER documents one by one, which he then classifies and bundles into ZIP files published for free at his organization's website...

District of Utah Tests Electronic Summons

Posted on December 02, 2008
The District of Utah is testing electronic issuance of summons. As Bob Wilde pointed out in a recent email, the lack of electronic summons issuance discourages electronic filing of complaints.My secretary and I were discussing the anomalous situation which has virtually all documents getting e-filed but requires us to come to the clerk?s office to get summons issued...

Sprint -Cogent Update

Posted on November 20, 2008
The dispute between Sprint and Cogent continues, but the Administrative Office of the United States Courts has "been advised that Sprint does not intend to break the connections with Cogent without providing advance warning. Sprint has stated that they are committed to providing a minimum of sixty (60) days notice before any shutdown occurs...

Sprint and Cogent Make Temporary Peace

Posted on November 03, 2008
As reported last week, Sprint terminated its internet connections with Cogent due to a dispute between the two firms. Between Thursday afternoon, October 30, and Sunday afternoon, November 2, those internet peering connections were severed. This prevented any law firm or any member of the public using Cogent as an ISP from getting access to CM/ECF, PACER, or the courts' public web sites...

Sprint-Cogent Dispute May Disrupt CM/ECF Access for Cogent Customers

Posted on October 31, 2008
A news report today on the PCWorld Business Center states:Sprint-Nextel has decided to sever its Internet connection with Cogent, another Internet service provider, according to a statement from Cogent.Internet health data supplied by Keynote Systems indicates that Cogent and Sprint are no longer exchanging traffic...

Automate Cross-Document Hyperlinks

Posted on September 19, 2008
In versions 3.1 and above, CM/ECF users may file a document that includes a hyperlink to a previously filed document in the same case or to any other document in any other case that resides on the CM/ECF system, even in other courts. When the judge reads a memorandum reference to a declaration or deposition, a cross-document hyperlink in the memorandum can take the judge to that declaration or deposition...

PDFs That Don't Appear

Posted on July 29, 2008
A CM/ECF user recently presented this issue:I have two PCs with IE 7 and Acrobat 6 standard. On one system there's no problem. On the other, when I click on the NEF document link or click on any document link on any docket report I get a blank page and a yellow triangle with exclamation point in the lower left corner...

Another Redaction that Wasn't Effective

Posted on May 28, 2008
Douglas Mallan writes in the Connecticut Law Tribune about "A Major Redaction Gaffe" in a case involving General Electric. Again, embarassing information specifically intended NOT to be public is in the public's hands.An "Emergency Motion to Seal by Consent of Parties" filed May 22, 2008 in Schaefer v...

Kansas State Court Suspends Bankruptcy Lawyer for Not E-Filing

Posted on April 18, 2008
In the first known case of its type, a lawyer has been disciplined by a state disciplinary authority in part for for failure to electronically file in federal court. The lawyer was generally neglectful of two clients' matters, and dishonest with them and with disciplinary authorities, but as to one client, e-filing was a central issued...

WordPerfect X4 Adds PDF Features

Posted on April 17, 2008
The new WordPerfect X4 adds many features to further enable its PDF functionality. Among those listed on the Corel website in addition to the PDF Import feature in WordPerfect X3 are:PDF Image ImportPDF/A standard, used for archivingPDF File Size Options

Failures to Receive E Notice - NOT Excusable

Posted on April 07, 2008
Two cases recently summarized by LexisNexis CourtLink considered different circumstances in which counsel failed to receive enotice, and also failed to obtain any relief from the court.In the first, In Re Sulzer, No. 1:01-CV-9000, MDL Docket No. 1401, 2006 U...

It's That Easy!

Posted on March 11, 2008
Chambers received a call yesterday from a lawyer who had items due -- but whose office was without power. Within minutes, a one day extension was on the CM/ECF record.Docket Text:ORDER extending to March 11, 2008 the deadline for Plaintiffs to serve discovery requests and/or file a motion to supplement the administrative record, based on representations of [Plaintiff's] counsel that an electrical power failure has affected his office today...

Do-it-yourself Filing Dates?

Posted on February 27, 2008
A recent filing contains an ineffective attempt to state a filing date before the date of actual filing. (click image to enlarge)The secretary for the attorney had called the help desk on the morning of the 20th to describe the unfortunate events. She said she loaded the Response and all the attachments on the 19th, right before she went home...

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