Opinion
Case No. 2:05-cv-0765.
July 24, 2006
ORDER
Before the Court is plaintiff United States of America's motion to strike defendant Morrow County Treasurer's answer and cross-claim for failing to file electronically.
The Local Rules for the Southern District of Ohio state, in relevant part, that "[t]hese Local rules, supplemented by the [']Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures Manual' (the `ECF Manual') . . . govern use of the Electronic Case Filing (`ECF') system in the District." See Local Rule 1.1(e). Accordingly, pursuant to the "Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures Manual,"
[u]nless otherwise permitted by these policies and procedures or unless otherwise authorized by the assigned judge, all documents submitted for filing in this district after September 1, 2003, in civil/criminal cases, no matter when a case was originally filed, shall be filed electronically using the Electronic Filing System ("System") or shall be scanned and uploaded to the System. Documents may also be submitted for filing to the Clerk's Office on 3.5" disks or CD-ROM as .pdf ("Portable Document Format") files.
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An attorney may apply to the assigned judge for permission to file paper documents. Even if the assigned judge initially grants an attorney permission to file paper documents, the assigned judge may withdraw that permission at any time during the pendency of a case and require the attorney to file documents electronically using the System.
The link to the "The Civil/Criminal Cases Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures Manual for the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio" can be found at http://www.ohsd.uscourts.gov/cmecf.htm.
Electronic Filing Policies and Procedures Manual, Section 1(A) (internal footnotes omitted). In order to file electronically using the System, "[e]ach attorney . . . must complete the Attorney Registration Form available on the court's website at www.ohsd.uscourts.gov. Id. at Section 1(C).
Counsel for the Morrow County Treasurer was advised in a previous order that he had not complied with this rule and that he would not be permitted to file further documents until he did so. A later document filed by him was stricken, but the answer and cross-claim at issue here were filed prior to that order. However, it is clear that the Court's Local Rules were violated by their filing.
Before ruling on the government's motion, this Court will grant counsel for the Morrow County Treasurer an additional ten days to register and re-file the answer and cross-claim electronically. The clerk is directed to mail a copy of this Order to the counsel of record representing the Morrow County Treasurer. If the Morrow County Treasurer fails to comply with this Order, the motion to strike will be granted.