Unless the court directs otherwise,

(a) Findings of Fact/Conclusions of Law. All orders, findings of fact and conclusions of law, and judgments shall be prepared by the prevailing party and submitted electronically.

(b) Order as Separate Document. A proposed form order or judgment, including one requested ex parte or by stipulation, must be filed on a document separate from its attendant motion or stipulation.

(c) Orders Signed Electronically. The judges of the court sign orders, findings of fact and conclusions of law, judgments, and other pleadings requiring their signatures by electronic means, and such electronic signatures shall have the same effect as a handwritten signature. Any pleading signed by a judge that is not dated shall be deemed to be dated as of the date the pleading is entered on the docket.

(d) Formatting Specifications.

(1) Top 4 Inches for Court Use Only. For all orders, the first page of the order must have a 4 inch top margin that is left blank for court use only.

(2) General Formatting Requirements. Orders shall be in 8-1/2 x 11 inch document format, using a standard embedded font, 11 or 12 point, and shall be double spaced. Each order shall bear line numbers in the left margins.

(3) “End of Order” Designation, No Date or Signature Line. The designation “///End of Order///” shall be placed after the final line of text on the order. No date or signature line is to be provided for the judge. The attorney(s) presenting the order shall so indicate in the lower left hand corner of the last page of the order by stating “Presented by” with their name, bar identification number and signature line.

(4) Text. Orders and judgments shall contain at least two lines of text on each page.

(e) Text Only Docket Orders. The court reserves the right to enter a Text Only Docket Order in any instance. A Text Only Docket Order is an order or judgment of the court that is electronically entered on the case docket without an attached document and is as official and binding as if the judge had signed a document containing the text. A Text Only Docket Order shall include the name of the judge authorizing the entry of said order and shall be deemed to be dated as of the date it is entered on the docket. A Text Only Docket Order, together with the Notice of Electronic Filing, shall constitute the evidence of an order.

(1) Service of Text Only Docket Order. If a party is required to serve notice of a Text Only Docket Order to parties who are not ECF participants, the party shall send a copy of the Notice of Electronic Filing to such recipients. Only those pages of the Notice of Electronic Filing that contain the filing information, the docket entry and the document descriptions need to be served.

Committee Comment

A sample form of order reflecting the above formatting requirements is posted on the court’s website.

CROSS REFERENCES: See General Order No. 2011-2 (E-Orders and Text Only Entries)