Section 3 - Electronic Filing and Service of DocumentsA.Electronic Filing1. Unless otherwise permitted by these procedures (e.g., see Section 6 ) or otherwise authorized by the assigned judge, all motions, pleadings, applications, briefs, memoranda of law, or other documents submitted for filing in civil and criminal cases in courts which have implemented MEC, no matter when a case was originally filed, should be filed electronically by the attorney or shall be scanned and uploaded to the system by the clerk's office.12. Electronically filed documents must meet the same requirements of format and page limits as documents "conventionally filed" (as defined in Definitions and Instructions) pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, Uniform Circuit Court and County Court Rules, and Uniform Chancery Court Rules.3. In order to file a document which requires leave of court such as an amended complaint or a document to be filed out of time, the proposed document shall be attached as an exhibit to a motion. If the motion is granted, the attorney must electronically re-file the proposed document as an independent document after entry of the court's order. 4. Electronic transmission of a document consistent with these procedures will, upon the complete transmission of the same to the clerk's office, constitute filing of the document for all purposes of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, and will constitute entry of that document onto the docket maintained by the clerk pursuant to M.R.C.P. 79.5. The attorney filing a document is responsible for ensuring the complete transmission of the document being electronically filed. A receipt acknowledging the complete transmission of the document which has been filed will immediately appear on the filer's screen. Parties can also verify the filing of documents by inspecting the court's electronic docket sheet. Attorneys of record are not charged a fee for viewing the case's electronic docket.6. Unless otherwise provided in these procedures, the clerk's office shall not maintain a paper court file in any case which is subject to these procedures. The official court record shall be the electronic file maintained by the court, supplemented with any conventionally-filed documents or exhibits filed in accordance with these procedures.7. All documents which form part of a single pleading and which are being filed at the same time may be electronically filed together under one document number, e.g., the motion and a supporting affidavit, with the exception of memoranda in support.8. Memoranda in support shall be electronically filed separately and shown as a related document to the motion. Memoranda in support of motions or responses do not need to be mailed to the presiding judge.9. In filing documents and attachments to documents, a filing party should electronically image, i.e., "scan," the paper exhibit that is less than ten megabytes (10 MB) and submit the exhibit as an attachment in PDF format. Some attached documents, whether a scanned exhibit or other evidence, may exceed the 10MB size requirement on the system. When this occurs, the document shall be reduced to as many 10MB "bundles" as required to file the entire document. Each bundle is filed as a separate attachment, and requires that the division of the attachments be listed in the description of the attachment, i.e., "Exhibit 1 - Pages 1 - 43" or "Exhibit 2 - Pages 44 - 83." Attorneys are encouraged to file an Exhibit List as the first attachment.10. All motions, pleadings, and other papers filed electronically during or within twenty-four hours prior to a trial, hearing, or other proceeding related to the case in which the filing occurs shall be accompanied by a paper copy of the filing to be distributed to the appropriate chambers by the clerk.11. In an emergency, an attorney who is not an MEC Filing User may conventionally file documents in courts which have implemented MEC if it is impracticable to become an MEC Filing User or designate other registered counsel prior to filing the documents. However, the paper filing must be followed by a motion seeking leave to file in paper form and showing cause for not becoming an MEC Filing User and for not designating other registered counsel in time to file the documents electronically.12. Any fee required for filing a pleading or paper with the court is payable as required by statute. The clerk's office will document the receipt of fees on the docket with a text-only entry. The court will not maintain electronic billing or debit accounts for lawyers or law firms. B. Signatures1. Non-Attorney Signatures: If a document must be filed which contains original signatures, such as affidavits, contracts, bonds, wills, etc., or which requires either verification or an unsworn declaration under any rule or statute, the filing party or the clerk's office shall scan the original document, electronically file it on the system, and the filing party shall retain the originally executed copies for subsequent production to the assigned judge if so ordered for inspection upon request by a party or the judge's own motion, until one year after final resolution of the action (including appeal, if any), or as otherwise required by rule or statute. The electronically filed document as it is maintained on the system shall constitute the official version of that record. The court will not maintain a paper copy of the original document except as otherwise provided in these procedures.
2. Attorney Signatures: A pleading or other document requiring an attorney's signature shall identify the attorney in the following manner, whether filed electronically or submitted on disk or CD to the clerk's office: "s/(attorney name)" (e.g., s/Jane Doe)
Jane Doe Mississippi Bar Number Firm Name Firm Address Telephone Number Fax Number E-Mail Address An attorney challenging the authenticity of an electronically filed document must file a timely objection to the document.
3. Criminal cases: Unless otherwise provided by these procedures, all documents which must contain original signatures, such as a grand jury foreperson, a defendant, a probation officer, or some other state or local officer or agent, or which require either verification or an unsworn declaration under any rule or statute, shall be filed conventionally on paper, scanned into the system, and maintained in the clerk's office. The electronically filed document as it is maintained on the system shall constitute the official version of that record.C. Title of DocumentsThe person electronically filing a pleading or other document will be responsible for designating a filing event for the pleading or other document by using one of the categories contained in the Events List on the MEC website at mec.ms.gov. The filing event selected serves only as a descriptive reference and does not alter the title which appears on the pleading or document being filed.
D. Filing DeadlinesFiling documents electronically does not alter any filing deadlines or any time computation pursuant to M.R.C.P. 6. All electronic transmissions of documents must be completed (i.e., received completely by the clerk's office) prior to midnight Central Standard (or Daylight Savings) Time. For the filing to be completed, the filer must have received the Notice of Electronic Filing from the court. The Notice of Electronic Filing reflects the time the electronic transmission of a document is completed. Accordingly, a document will be deemed timely filed if the Notice of Electronic Filing reflects time prior to midnight. However, the assigned judge may order that a document be filed by a time certain, which then becomes the filing deadline. Although documents can be filed electronically 24 hours a day, filers are strongly encouraged to file all documents during office hours.
E. Errors in FilingOnce a document is submitted electronically, it becomes part of the court file, and corrections may be made only by the court and/or the clerk's office. The system will not permit the filing party to make changes to the document(s) or docket entry once the transaction has been accepted, and the filer should not attempt to refile the documents(s).
As soon as possible after an error is discovered, the filing party should contact the clerk's office with the case number and document number for which the correction is being requested. If appropriate, the clerk's office will make an entry on the docket indicating that the document was filed in error, or otherwise describing the error. The clerk's office will inform the filing party of the corrective steps which need to be taken.
F. Service of Filed Documents on Parties1. The system will generate a "Notice of Electronic Filing" when any document is filed. This notice represents service of the document on attorneys who are registered participants with the system. Except as provided in Section 6, regarding conventional filing, the filing party shall not be required to serve any pleading2 or other documents on any party receiving electronic notice. A Certificate of Service [Form 1 ] must still be attached to the document.2. The filing party shall also serve those parties not designated or able to receive electronic notice but nevertheless are entitled to notice of said pleading or other document in accordance with the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, except as otherwise provided by order of the court. If such service of a paper copy is to be made, it shall be done in the manner provided in the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure.3. A party may not electronically serve a summons and complaint, but instead must perfect service according to M.R.C.P. 4 or 81, as applicable. For issuance of a summons, see Section 6.A.2. 4. Service pursuant to Section 3(F)(1) will constitute service pursuant to M.R.C.P. 5(b) and will entitle the party being served, as in conventional service by U.S. mail, to the additional three days provided by M.R.C.P. 6(e).G. Certificate of ServiceA Certificate of Service is still a requirement when filing documents electronically. A sample Certificate of Service is attached as Form 1.
1 Documents filed in the MEC system must be in PDF format. A document created with almost any word-processing program can be converted to PDF format. The PDF program in effect takes a picture of the original document and allows anyone to open the converted document across a broad range of hardware and software, with layout, format, links, and images intact. Instructions on how to save a document in PDF format are located on the MEC website at mec.ms.gov. For information on PDF, users may visit the websites of PDF vendors, such as www.adobe.com/products/acrobator www.fineprint.com.
2 The term "pleading" refers only to those documents listed in Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure 7(a).
December 2008; rev. September 2009; rev. May 2012, eff. 7/1/2012; rev. June 2016, eff. 6/16/2016; rev. November 2016, eff. 12/1/2016