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United States District Court Update

Thursday, December 8, 2011

The U.S. District Court will go live on CM/ECF Version 5.1.1 on Monday, December 12.  CM/ECF will be down Sunday, December 11, from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. CST for system maintenance as we upgrade to the new version.

The new version introduces several new features.  Users may notice the following changes:

1. Sealed Access

CM/ECF now allows courts to give sealed access to attorneys on a per document basis.  If a judge chooses to give an attorney sealed access to a document, the system will send the attorney a "Notice of Access to Sealed Document."  This notice will have a hyperlink to the sealed document.  However, the attorney must access the docket sheet to view the sealed document.  The attorney will not be charged PACER fees for the first look at the sealed document.

2. Electronic Notice on Sealed Documents

Attorneys will no longer receive electronic notice when they file a sealed motion or sealed document in criminal and civil cases.  When these documents are filed, the user should save a copy of the Notice of Electronic Filing that is generated when these documents are uploaded to the CM/ECF system.

3. More Secure Passwords

CM/ECF now requires users to create more secure passwords.  Passwords must be at least eight characters long and include both upper-case and lower-case alphabetic characters and at least one numeric or special character (for example, 0-9, @, #, $, %, &, *, +).  After logging in with their current passwords, users will see a pop-up message instructing them to change passwords.  Users can bypass this message, but it will appear at every login until the user changes the password.

4. New Civil Motion Event

A "Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim" is now available in the list of civil motions.

5. Docket Activity Report

The billing receipt for a Docket Activity Report will display when the user selects the event, category, or case flags options on the selection screen or runs the report for closed or open cases.

6. PACER

The PACER login screen that is accessed through Change Your PACER Login on the Utilities menu now contains information about the $.08 PACER access fee.

7. PDF/A

CM/ECF will accept both PDF and PDF/A documents.  In the future, courts will accept only PDF/A documents when filing in CM/ECF.  PDF/A is a standard format that allows for the long-term archiving of electronic documents with the assurance that the documents will remain accessible in the future.  At this time, no specific date has been set for the acceptance of only PDF/A documents, but users are encouraged to start transitioning to PDF/A as soon as possible.  More information on PDF/A can be found on the court's Web site at http://www.ned.uscourts.gov/attorney/electronic-case-filing/announcement-regarding-electronically-filed-document-format-change.

8. Logging Out of CM/ECF

When a user clicks "Logout" from the main blue menu bar, a pop-up message will appear: "Although you have logged out from CM/ECF, data remains in the browser's memory (and might be available to someone else using your PC).  Please close your browser now to clear this data."  Users are encouraged to close their browsers to ensure data is cleared from the browser's memory.

To learn more about the changes in this version of CM/ECF, please visit the PACER Web site at http://www.pacer.gov/documents/cmecf/relnotes/district_5.0.pdf".

NOTE: You received this message because you are a registered user of CM/ECF.  This is an automated message.  DO NOT REPLY to this e-mail.  If you wish to contact the court, use the following link: http://www.ned.uscourts.gov/emailus/index.html.

If you have any questions about these matters, please contact the clerk's office, 402-661-7350 (Omaha) or 402-437-1900 (Lincoln).

Thank you,
United States District Court Clerk's Office