Federal Judiciary

New Local Rule Amendments - effective March 6, 2009

By Michael C. Smith

On February 10, Chief Judge Folsom signed General Order 09-06 Download 09-6 with the 2008 amendments to the Eastern District's rules (the delay was due to Hurricane Ike, who resulted in the cancellation of last October's bench/bar, which is when the rules changes are presented to the judges).  There are numerous changes, but significant changes for practitioners include:

• E-filing of sealed ex parte documents (you know you wanted to)
• New Local Rule CV-6 allowing the additional three days of FRCP 6(d) to respond even if the document was hand delivered (so stop asking your local counsel to do this to cut out the extra days).

In accordance with 28 U.S.C. Section 2071(b), the rule amendments will be posted in the clerk's offices and on the website soon with a notice inviting public commentary.  This notice and comment period will expire on Friday, March 6, 2009, after which time the new rules will go into effect.

Full post as published by Eastern District of Texas Federal Court Practice on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).