Circuit Court for Baltimore City Electronic Filing Rules

All filings in the asbestos personal injury cases must comply with the court's August 25, 2003 electronic-filing case management order.

All filings shall be made in accordance with the Honorable Ellen M. Heller's First Amended Case Management Order for the Electronic Filing of Pleadings, Papers and Documents in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases dated August 25, 2003.

Applies to

Case filing

Asbestos case filings must be submitted through FSX rather than MDEC.

Asbestos cases are exempt from the requirement to use the Maryland Electronic Courts system (MDEC) for case filings and dockets.  Instead, asbestos case filings must be submitted through File&ServeXpress (FSX).

Applies to

Case filing

Asbestos case filings are permitted only through FSX and not through Odyssey File and Serve.

Asbestos case filings may only be made through FSX, not through Odyssey File and Serve.

All filings must comply with the court order governing electronic filing in asbestos personal injury cases.

All filings shall be made in accordance with the Honorable Ellen M. Heller's First Amended Case Management Order for the Electronic Filing of Pleadings, Papers and Documents in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases dated August 25, 2003.

A non-participant must deliver a 3½-inch diskette containing documents for filing to the Clerk's office for upload into the eFiling system.

If a party elects not to be a Participant (hereinafter, "Non-Participant"), that party must bring a 3½ inch diskette containing the documents to be filed in any pending case to the Clerk's office to be uploaded by the party into the eFiling system.

A newly added party must elect whether to participate in eFiling within 60 days after service of the Order.

The Court shall provide a newly-added party with a reasonable amount of time to become a participant in eFiling, but in no event shall this election to participate exceed sixty (60) days from the date of service of a copy of this Order on that party.

Before a newly added party elects to participate in eFiling, it must submit documents to the Clerk on a 3½-inch diskette and serve other parties conventionally under the Maryland Rules.

During the ===== PAGE 2 ===== FROM : EDWARDS FAX NO. : 4102957254 Aug. 25 2003 08:15AM P4 period prior to electing to subscribe to the eFiling system, that party must bring a 3½ inch diskette containing the documents to be filed to the Clerk's office to be uploaded by the party into the eFiling system. Prior to electing to participate, service copies from the newly-added party to other parties in the case shall be made in the conventional manner in accordance with the Maryland Rules.

Applies to

Pleadings papers and other required documents

Unless Paragraph 3j provides otherwise, all pleadings, papers, and other documents required for filing in the Asbestos Litigation must be electronically filed and served by all Participants on Participants and Non-Participants.

b. Electronic Filing and Service - Except as provided in Paragraph 3j of this Order, all pleadings, papers, or other documents required to be filed with the Court in connection with the Asbestos Litigation shall be electronically filed and served by all Participants on both Participants and Non-Participants.

Applies to

Discovery material

A party generating discovery material must electronically file it and serve it on all case parties instead of using the notice procedure in Maryland Rule 2-401(d)(2).

A party generating discovery material shall electronically file with the Court and serve discovery material upon all parties to the case, in lieu of the notice requirement of Md. Rule 2-401(d)(2).

Applies to

Discovery attachment

Electronically created attachments to discovery requests and responses must be electronically filed and served on all case parties.

Attachments to discovery requests and responses that were created electronically shall be electronically filed with the Court and served upon all parties to the case.

Applies to

Complaint

Effective upon approval of the Order, all Complaints and Third Party Complaints must be electronically filed, and a claiming party initiating a case must use the electronic filing system's "file in a new case" feature.

Effective the date this Order is approved by the Court of Appeals, all Complaints and Third Party Complaints shall be electronically filed with the Court. In order to initiate the case with the Clerk of the Court, the claiming party must use the "file in a new case" feature in the eFiling system to file a Complaint.

Applies to

Case profile

A claiming party must use the electronic filing system's "Case Profile" feature to add third-party defendants and other subsequently added defendants to a case.

The claiming party shall add Third Party Defendants and other subsequently added Defendants to a case by using the "Case Profile" feature in the eFiling system.

Applies to

Return of service

Plaintiffs and Third-Party Plaintiffs must electronically file returns of service or notice of service in the electronic filing system.

Plaintiffs and Third-Party Plaintiffs shall electronically file returns of service or notice of same in the eFiling system.

Applies to

Judicial ruling opinion order or court communication

All judicial rulings, opinions, orders, and other court communications must be electronically filed and served on every case party and signed with a typographical signature.

All judicial rulings, opinions, orders, and other communications of the court shall be electronically filed and served upon all parties to a case. Such documents shall be signed with a typographical signature.

Applies to

Proposed order

A proposed order must be submitted as a separate document within the filing transaction.

however, the proposed order shall be submitted as a separate document.

Applies to

Documents directly relating to previously filed document

Documents directly related to a previously filed document must be linked to it using the eFiling system’s Linked Documents feature.

All documents, papers or pleadings directly relating to a previously filed document, paper or pleading shall be linked to the previously filed document, paper or pleading utilizing the "Linked Documents" feature in the eFiling system.

Applies to

Exhibits and attachments

Exhibits designated for conventional filing must be provided to the court within five days of the corresponding e-filing with a descriptive cover page.

Any exhibits designated for conventional filing shall be provided to the Court within five (5) days of the corresponding eFiling along with a cover page that describes the related electronically filed documents.

Applies to

Documents filed under seal

After a sealing motion is granted, documents under seal must be electronically filed using the eFile system’s sealed access feature.

Once the motion is granted, the documents to be filed under seal shall be electronically filed utilizing the sealed access feature in the eFile system.

Applies to

Pleading

For trial clusters, a participant must e-file in the group case number and is assessed one LexisNexis CourtLink transactional filing fee per filing.

When individual cases have been grouped for trial, known as "trial clusters", a Participant shall eFile a pleading, paper or document in the group case number and will be assessed one LexisNexis CourtLink transactional filing fee for each filing.

Applies to

Instrument requiring filing fee

Any instrument requiring a filing fee to obtain valid filing status must be filed electronically through the eFile procedure.

Any instrument requiring payment of a filing fee to the Clerk of the Court in order to achieve valid filing status shall be filed electronically in the same manner as any other eFile document.

All filings must comply with the court’s First Amended Case Management Order for electronic filing in asbestos personal injury cases.

All filings shall be made in accordance with the Honorable Ellen M. Heller’s First Amended Case Management Order for the Electronic Filing of Pleadings, Papers and Documents in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases dated August 25, 2003.

All filings must comply with the court's August 25, 2003 order governing electronic filing in asbestos personal injury cases.

ORDERED that all filings be made in accordance with the Honorable Ellen M. Heller's First Amended Case Management Order for the Electronic Filing of Pleadings, Papers and Documents in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases dated August 25, 2003.

Walk-in motions are not accepted, and all motions must be filed in the Clerk’s office.

Walk-in motions will not be honored by the court. All motions must be filed in the Clerk’s office.

Electronic filing is available only for filings on the asbestos docket.

E-filing is currently available only on the asbestos docket.

Applies to

Motion

All motions must be electronically filed with the Clerk’s office under Title 20 of the Maryland Rules unless exempt under Md. Rule 20-106(b), and walk-in motions are not accepted.

There are no walk-in motions. All motions must be electronically filed with the Clerk’s office in accordance with Title 20 of the Maryland Rules unless exempted under Md. Rule 20-106(b).

All filings must comply with the judge’s August 25, 2003 case management order governing electronic filing in asbestos personal injury cases.

All filings shall be made in accordance with the Honorable Ellen M. Heller’s First Amended Case Management Order for the Electronic Filing of Pleadings, Papers and Documents in Asbestos Personal Injury Cases dated August 25, 2003.

All Asbestos Litigation cases are assigned to the Court electronic filing and service project.

All cases in the Asbestos Litigation are assigned to the electronic filing and service project known as and hereinafter referred to as "eFiling" as established by an Agreement between CourtLink Corporation (hereinafter, "eFiling System," "LexisNexis CourtLink Inc" or "Vendor") or any successor system, and the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.

A pro se party may elect to participate in eFiling and, upon doing so, receives law-firm access and functionality but must follow the same conditions as a law-firm user.

Pro se parties may elect to participate in the eFiling system. By opting to participate, all pro se parties will be treated the same as a law firm and will have the same access and functionality as a law firm and must, in turn, agree to abide by the same conditions for using eFile as a law firm user.

Applies to

Exhibits and attachments

Real-object or otherwise electronically unviewable exhibits may be filed and served conventionally in their original form.

Exhibits and/or attachments to pleadings or papers that are real objects or which otherwise may not be comprehensibly viewed in an electronic format may be filed and served conventionally, in their original form, e.g., x-rays.

Applies to

Pleading

A party filing the same pleading, paper, or document in more than one case, including trial clusters, may use the e-filing system's multi-case filing function.

When a party files a pleading, paper or document in more than one case, including trial clusters, that party may use the multi-case filing function in the eFile system.

Applies to

Pleadings papers and documents

Electronically filed pleadings, papers, and documents may be submitted in PDF, WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, other convertible word-processing formats, or tagged image format (TIF).

All electronically filed pleadings, papers and documents may be filed in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) directly, WordPerfect and Microsoft Word formats or other word processing formats that can be converted by the current versions of WordPerfect or Word as of the date of this Order. To ensure all Participants will be able to print the retrieved documents from CourtLink correctly, CourtLink converts the electronic document to the Adobe Acrobat Reader's portable document format (PDF). Digital images of documents may be filed in tagged image format (TIF.)

Applies to

Request to substitute mediator

A written request to substitute the mediator may be submitted to the Clerk's Office or by email or fax.

Parties must file a written “Request to Substitute Mediator,” substantially in the form set forth in MD Rule 17-202(g) with the Clerk’s Office, with a courtesy stamped copy sent to the Civil ADR Program at the address below, or by email or fax (see contact information below).