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Attorney Newsletter October 2018

NEWS FROM U.S. DISTRICT COURT
October 12, 2018

NEW BILL OF COSTS GUIDE: The Clerk’s Office has prepared the attached Bill of Costs Guide to assist parties in properly submitting bills of costs and associated documentation for consideration by the Court. This Guide is also available on the Court’s website. It addresses the procedure for electronically filing bills of costs in CM/ECF and identifies both taxable and non-taxable costs. It also includes a section on how to seek review of the Clerk’s Taxation of Costs. Generally, the Clerk will deny costs that are beyond the Clerk’s authority to tax or where the authority to tax such costs is unclear.

SIGNATURES ON DOCUMENTS E-FILED IN CM/ECF: Only registered attorneys and approved non-prisoner pro se parties may sign their electronically filed documents using an “/s/” and their typed name on the signature line. Affidavits and declarations signed by anyone other than the attorney or pro se party who e-filed the document must contain the actual ink signature of the affiant or declarant. Notarized documents must also contain the actual ink signature of the notary public.

Pursuant to D.S.D. Civ. LR 5.1(B)(5) and D.S.D. Crim. LR 49.1(B)(5), documents requiring the signatures of more than one party may be e-filed by either (a) submitting a scanned document containing all necessary signatures, or (b) in any other manner approved by the court. It is never permissible for a filer to sign an e-filed document for another person by typing an “/s/” and the other person’s name on a signature line in the document. Instead of using “/s/” of another person’s name, attorneys and pro se parties should file unopposed motions, which only require the signature of the filer, rather than joint motions.

TIP OF THE MONTH: Do you ever have trouble locating a specific event to electronically file a document in CM/ECF? If so, try using the Event and Menu Search utility in CM/ECF by clicking on Search on the blue menu bar. A small pop-up window will appear. Enter the text of your search in the search box and click on the Search button located in the pop-up window. The results of your search will be displayed with the characters of your text search highlighted. Each result is a hyperlink. Click on a hyperlink to immediately access the corresponding event or menu item. This utility is available to ECF users, but is not available to PACER users.

Friday, October 12, 2018