Failure to Whitelist Court NEF EMails Not Justified
A judge in Colorado has sanctioned lawyers for failure to appear at a settlement conference. Their excuse was that they did not receive notice through CM/ECF -- but that was because their IT staff failed to whitelist the email domain from which Notices of Electronic Filing are sent. The judge held that this was not "substantially justified" and imposed attorney's fee and expense sanctions.
This event was described in a
Computerworld article. As one
blogger says, "The business process of the law firm was not understood by the admin." The essential facts are contained in the judge's order to show cause in Pace v. United Servs. Auto Ass'n, Case No. 05-cv-01562-LTB-MJW, D. Co., 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49425, dated July 9, 2007. That case cite is from a
blog account of the event, where the judge's order is posted.
Steady Progress on E-filer Percentages
The district continues to make steady progress on reducing the number of non e-filers. Non e-filers require paper notice and impose signficant scanning duties on the court staff. E-filers complain that it is very inconvenient to have a case with a non e-filer because of paper service is required for that attorney.
In December 2006, the number of non e-filers on active cases was 334 but in mid July 2007, it was down to 184. Judges continue to offer assistance and encouragement to attorneys so that they may register as e-filers.