Title 255--LOCAL
COURT RULESBEAVER COUNTY Local Rules of Civil Procedure; No. 10130 of 2001 [36 Pa.B. 4713]
[Saturday, August 26, 2006]Order New Rule L.R. 205.4, is adopted effective thirty (30) days after publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
The Court Administrator of Beaver County shall transmit certified copies of this Order and Rule as follows:
(1) Seven (7) certified copies with the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts;
(2) Two (2) certified copies and a computer diskette containing the text of the Rule with the Legislative Reference Bureau for publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin;
(3) One (1) certified copy with the Civil Procedural Rules Committee of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania;
(4) One (1) copy shall be kept continuously available by the Prothonotary of Beaver County for public inspection and copying;
(5) One copy with the Law Library of Beaver County;
(6) One copy with the Legal Journal of Beaver County for publication therein.
By the Court
ROBERT E. KUNSELMAN,
President JudgeL.R. 205.4 Electronic Filing and Service of Legal Papers
(1) The Prothonotary of Beaver County is hereby authorized to accept filings of legal papers by electronic transmission in accordance with Pa.R.C.P. No. 205.4 and this rule at the following website:
www.lexisnexis.com/file and serve
To obtain access to the filing system all filing parties shall apply for a Username and Password at this website, or use computer terminals provided at the Office of the Prothonotary of Beaver County.
Upon the acceptance of a filing by electronic transmission, the Prothonotary, or the Prothonotary's agent shall provide the filing party with a filing status message which sets forth the date and time of acceptance of the filing.
(a) A legal paper includes a writ of summons or a complaint that is original process naming an original defendant or an additional defendant but does not include a notice of appeal from a Board of Arbitration or a notice of appeal from a Magisterial District Judge.
(b) All legal papers filed by electronic transmission shall be filed in Microsoft Word for Windows, Word Perfect for Windows or Adobe PDF format. To the extent practical, legal papers shall comply with the requirements of L.R. Nos. 205.2(a) and 205.2(b). In addition, each page shall be numbered at the bottom center of the page and the case number shall appear, in at least twelve point font, in the upper right-hand corner of each page.
Lexis-Nexis File and Serve will convert any Word or Word Perfect file to PDF Format but the original format shall also be made available to the court. The official record of the court is the PDF version.
(2) All legal papers must be filed electronically in accordance with the schedule hereinafter set forth. Filing parties must register with Lexis-Nexis File and Serve. Should any party or attorney deliver a legal paper to the Prothonotary in hard copy for filing, the Prothonotary shall electronically upload the legal paper to Lexis-Nexis File and Serve and may assess a filing fee and service fee for the same. All filing parties shall also file a written request for notice of the entry of an order or judgment by electronic means.
(a) In addition to all other applicable fees, the Prothonotary is authorized to collect an automation fee of $5.00 for each initial filing and the sum of $1.00 per page for each page of a legal paper which is not presented in electronic format. The Prothonotary shall not accept a legal paper for filing prior to payment of or the satisfactory arrangements for payment of the required fees. The Prothonotary may delegate the collection and disbursement of fees to Lexis-Nexis File and Serve.
(b) The schedule for legal papers to be filed electronically and the effective date for electronic filing for each category of cases is as follows:
Type of Case Effective Date 1. Mortgage Foreclosure September 18, 2006 2. Judgments by Confession and Municipal Claims November 13,2006 3. All other Civil Matters except Divorce and Child Custody February 12, 2007 4. Divorce and Child Custody April 2, 2007 (3) The Prothonotary need not maintain a hard copy of any legal paper filed electronically except as required to comply with Pa.R.C.P. No. 205.4(b) (2) (ii), cases called for trial, cases appealed to an appellate court, cases transferred to another court, and those portions of cases at issue in an argument scheduled before this Court. On request by the Prothonotary, the filing party shall submit a hard copy of each paper filed electronically to enable the Prothonotary to comply with this part of this Rule.
Further, for all cases pending on the effective date for electronic filing, the filing party shall provide the Prothonotary with a hard copy of each paper filed electronically.
(4) The Prothonotary shall provide a computer terminal or terminals for public access to electronically filed legal papers.
(5) A legal paper accepted for filing shall be deemed to have been filed as of the date and time it was received by the electronic filing system. If a legal paper is rejected by the Prothonotary, it shall be forthwith returned to the filing party and a reason for its rejection shall be specified. Subject to the provisions of section 6, a rejected legal paper shall be deemed as not having been filed.
(6) Any filing party for whom the failure of the website or the erroneous rejection of the legal paper resulted in an untimely filing may petition the Court to request that the legal paper be deemed filed as of the submission dates. Such petition shall state the date and time of the failure or rejection, the reason why the legal paper could not be submitted in person, the reason the rejection was erroneous and the reason the legal paper could not be timely resubmitted.
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 06-1669. Filed for public inspection August 25, 2006, 9:00 a.m.]
