Opinion
2013-09-12
IN RE SUPREME COURT AND COURT OF APPEALS RULE 1-8
PER CURIAM
We recently adopted Rule 1-8 of the Rules of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. See In re Adoption of Supreme Court & Court of Appeals Rule 1-8. Courtesy Electronic Copies, 2013 Ark. 256 (per curiam). The Attorney General has filed a motion requesting that the rule be modified to exempt the requirement of service on opposing counsel in subsection (f) for incarcerated pro se litigants. The Attorney General points out that service of electronic media on inmates raises serious safety and security concerns.
We believe that these concerns are well-founded and amend Rule 1-8(f) by adding the following: "Provided however, electronic media containing the PDF documents shall not be served on incarcerated pro se litigants." The Certificate of Compliance has also been amended to conform with this change. We republish Rule 1-8(f) as set out below, and the amendment is effective immediately.
ARKANSAS RULES OF THE SUPREME COURT
AND COURT OF APPEALS
RULE 1-8. Courtesy electronic copies.
. . . (f) PDF documents shall be submitted on a Compact Disk (CD), Digital Video Disk (DVD), portable "flash" or "thumb" drive, or on other electronic media that may be commonly used for transporting digital information. Only one electronic media copy of PDF documents shall be submitted with the filing of the original paper documents. PDF documents shall not be submitted by email. Evidence of service upon opposing counsel of the electronic media containing the PDF documents must be furnished at the time of filing the original paper documents. Provided however, electronic media containing the PDF documents shall not be served on incarcerated pro se litigants. . . . .
CERTIFICATE OF COMPLIANCE AND IDENTIFICATION OF PAPER DOCUMENTS NOT IN PDF FORMAT
Certification: I hereby certify that:
I have submitted and served on opposing counsel (except for incarcerated pro se litigants) an unredacted and, if required, a redacted PDF document(s) that comply with the Rules of the Supreme Court and Court of Appeals. The PDF document(s) are identical to the corresponding parts of the paper document(s) from which they were created as filed with the court. To the best of my knowledge, information, and belief formed after scanning the PDF documents for viruses with an antivirus program, the PDF documents are free of computer viruses. A copy of this certificate has been submitted with the paper copies filed with the court and has been served on all opposing parties. . . . .