1) To clarify, after a proposed order is signed by the judge, if anyone on the certificate of service is not in the electronic system, the attorney is responsible for serving said party?
- Yes, the practice in Montgomery County has been the filer of the “proposed” order is responsible for the service of the signed order. If there are parties not being served electronically, they must be served via ordinary mail. An update to Loc. R. 1.15 regarding this issue is currently out for review and comments.
2) Do the messages that go to the notifications tab also get sent to e-mail? More specifically notifications of filing, failure of service, 14 day orders, judgment entries? If so, how is that set up? Is there a way to add or remove recipients of said notifications?
- Each user has the ability to have 3 email addresses in their profile. When documents are filed (including failure of service, 14 day orders, and judgment entries) a Notice of Electronic Filing – NEF) is sent to all email addresses in the profile. The official service of the document is in the Notification section in eFlex. A link to the time stamped document will be placed in this Notification section. Please note the NEF email is NOT the service of the document – a link to the eFlex system is in the email for you to obtain the document.
- As long as the attorney is “counsel of record”, time stamped documents will always be placed in the Notification section of eFlex. The email is considered a “courtesy” so the user can remove all but 1 of the email addresses in their profile and documents will still be delivered to the Notification section.
3) Is there a delay between the document being filed and a copy being available for download from your docket site?
- The time stamped document is available in the Case History in eFlex immediately. You access Case History by clicking on “My Cases” from the Home screen.
- If you choose to access documents from the Clerk’s PRO (Public Access Online) system, the image will generally be available in less than an hour. The original document must go through a redaction process in order to be available on PRO.
- If you are counsel of record on the case it is recommended to get your time stamped document through your Notification section or from the Case History. The documents in eFlex are NOT redacted.
4) Will a copy of this Power Point be available for download?
The 2nd e-filing webinar training session for e-filing users was held on 11/15/2010. Over 35 participants joined the session. The questions from this training follow.
1. What is the procedure for filing Interrogatories, Request for Production of Documents and a Certificate of Submission?
Please review our local rule 2.09 regarding Discovery –
IV. DISCOVERY PAPERS:
A. In accordance with Ohio Civil Rule 5 (D), all papers, after the complaint, required to be served upon a party shall be filed with the Court within three (3) days after service, but depositions upon oral examination, interrogatories, requests for documents, requests for admission, and answers and responses thereto shall not be filed unless on order of the Court or for use as evidence or for consideration of a motion in the proceeding. The Clerk of Court shall not accept for filing the transcript of a deposition unless it is accompanied by a certification by counsel that the deposition is being filed on order of the Court or for use as evidence or for consideration of a motion in a proceeding.
You may file a Notice of Service of the Answers and Responses to the Interrogatories and Request for Production of Documents. You would use the Notice category and then select Notice: Service as your document type. In the additional text, type exactly what you are filing.
If you do have an order of the Court to file the discovery, you would have to utilize the Entries – No Judicial Signature Required category and then select Entry as your document type. In the additional text, type what exactly you are filing.
2. How do you put aka or fka for a business in the system?
In the “Add a Party” screen, go to the middle right side of the screen in the- Additional Aliases or Business Name for Party. When selecting a business, you must click the business radio button. Select the AKA, FKA, or NKA and then type in the alias on the third line. Click add and the new alias will be added to the case when the submission is approved by the Clerk’s office. Please note you can modify the party on the Review and Approve page as well by click on the party name and following the same instructions.
If you should have any further questions please call Roxana Gumucio at 937-225-4753, Lynn Cooper at 937-496-7987, or Connie Villelli at 937-225-6096.
The General Division and the Clerk of Court have prepared an entry to guide the implementation of the e-filing project. The entry was developed in accordance with proposed e-filing standards established by an Ohio Supreme Court Committee on technology standards. The
The Court recently conducted a webinar training session for e-filing users. Over 100 participants received training through this method. The questions and answers from this training follow.
1. Are convenience fees due even when an indigency affidavit is filed?
No. If the check box is selected for “Affidavit Of Indigency”, then there is no deposit required and therefore no convenience fee. An Affidavit of Indigency must be filled with the submission.
2. Are other courts contemplating implementing e-filing systems from Tybera or any other vendors?
Yes. Many Courts in Ohio are looking at eFiling and we have been involved in showing them what our system is capable of.
3. When filing complaints with attached exhibits, is it an option to upload the exhibits as a separate PDF, rather than in the same file?
Yes, you may prepare your complaint as a separate PDF from the exhibits but it will be an attachment to the complaint and will be reflected as one document for the record. You must add your complaint to the submission then select attachment or exhibit as your next document type. You will be asked what document you want the attachment or exhibit attached to; you must select the complaint. You can add as many attachments as you need while staying within the size guidelines. The complaint and exhibits will be combined as one document for the record.
4. Can a notification be sent to the Sheriff’s office when an Order is signed to cancel a foreclosure sale?
No, we are currently working with the Sheriff’s office with the goal of complete automation. This particular Order is on the list of things to automatically deliver.
5. Can you repeat what information goes into the Filer Reference No.?
The filer reference no. would be any number and/or name that you may assign to your client. Filer Reference No. is better known as your client case number. The filer reference no. is not a mandatory field so if you do not assign a client number or name, you can leave this field blank.
6. Do you have to use /s/ for signature or can you use your real signature?
The /s/ is the acceptable electronic signature for attorneys and we do not need a wet signature. It is more labor intensive to electronically file a document with your “real signature”. It requires you to print your document, sign the document, and then scan it back to an electronic format (PDF). Scanned documents prevents us from taking advantage of : the ability to search documents or copy and paste, and Scanning also increases the size of documents. You can always create an image of the actual signature and insert this image on the signature line if necessary.
7. For Summary Judgments – Are we required to file the motion for leave and order granting leave first, and then file the msj and entry second?
You must file the Motion and the Entry as separate documents but you can include them in the same submission. The Court actually prefers the Motion and the Entry be filed in the same submission. If you want the Entry to be attached to the Motion as well, you can mark that as an exhibit and include this in the PDF document. Please make sure to label this as an exhibit. The Motion must be filed as a PDF document and the Entry for the Judge to sign must be a .doc, .docx, or .wpd file format.
8. I work for Ohio Atty Gen – we don’t pay filing fees. What is our process for the “select a payment method?”
The Payment Options is based on the Organization the user is assigned to. The Ohio Attorney General’s office is considered “exempt” from deposits or filing fees. If you are initiating a new case, the “select a payment method will not even be available”. The fees will be assessed to the case but you will not be required to pay the deposit up front.
9. If you file a Motion and Entry (example: Motion for Summary Judgment) we usually attach the Entry to the back of the Motion. Do we need to file the Entry separate from the Motion since the judge needs to sign it? Do we file as one document – PDF. or DOC?
You must file the Motion and the Entry as separate documents but you can include them in the same submission. The Court actually prefers the Motion and the Entry be filed in the same submission. . The Motion gets filed as a PDF (because it does not require a Judges signature) and, if you like, you could attach, as a PDF, a version of that Order. This is not the same as filing the order. You are simply showing the order you have prepared and it will become one Docket entry with the Motion.
The Entry/Order you need signed by the Judge MUST come in as a .DOC or .DOCX. There is no other way to file an entry for Judges to sign. They are filed individually in a Word Processing format that can be opened, changed, if needed and finally signed. This process then converts the signed order to a PDF.
10. Is the instrument number mandatory for praecipes?
The Prior Instrument Reference is not mandatory. Only items with an asterisk (*) before the box are mandatory.
11. Is there a link to find out which types of cases are still done as paper filings?
Currently: Certificate of Judgment; Executions and Criminal cases types within the Montgomery County, Common Pleas Court, General Division are still being filed in paper.
12. For documents that have filing fees, do you have a link telling us which ones need filing fees?
We do not have a link in the Eflex site to tell you which documents have a filling fee. You can access the filing fees at http://www.clerk.co.montgomery.oh.us/legal/cvfees.cfm
13. What is the emergency box for?
The emergency box is to be checked if you are filing a TRO or perhaps an Order to Withdraw Sheriff Sale (and the Proposed Order is getting submitted the morning of the sale!). When the box is checked, the submission is flagged and marked red in order for the Clerk to catch the emergency. If a filer develops a habit of marking everything “emergency”, the Clerk’s office will take note and will eventually reject the filings.
14. Are you planning another session?
Yes. We will be setting future webinar dates in the next few weeks and broadcast those to all electronic filers.
15. I was wondering if this webinar was going to be taped so that one of the staff at our firm may view it at a later date.
The Webinar was not taped. Our goal is to do these periodically so that updates to the system are always captured. The future dates will be communicated as soon as they are available.
During the week of March 17th, the Court and Clerk started the design review phase of e-filing. As previously discussed, the vendor chosen for this project was Tybera. Representatives from Tybera were on site in Montgomery County to start the design phase of the project. This involves group discussions with clerk and court staff to document and analyze current processing methods. A critical analysis of “how we do things” is necessary so that we avoid the mistake of automating ineffecient processes and methods. A demonstration of the review queue will be presented to the Judges to give them a better understanding of how electronic review and signatures will work.
A recent article in the Florida Bar News examined the role of attorneys in the development and use of emerging technology in the courts. Florida has been very active in the use of electronic records and other technology advancements. From the beginning, the Montgomery County e-filing project has included Bar Association and Attorney representatives in the planning effort.
