The Court is pleased to announce it is expanding the use of digital audio on the case docket. Effective January 2, 2019, digital audio recordings of most Chapter 7, 11, and 13 hearings, as well as trials and evidentiary hearings will be posted and made available for download on the ECF docket.

The expanded use of digital audio will exclude the following hearings:

•          Reaffirmation Agreement Hearings
•          Port Orchard Hearings
•          Any hearings that the case judge deems sensitive or ineligible for posting, at each judge's discretion

NOTES

• The digital audio of a hearing will appear on the ECF docket as a PDF document with an embedded MP3 file.
• Customers who download the MP3 audio file from the ECF docket will do so through PACER for a fee of $2.40 per audio file.  Customers will be prompted for the fee before proceeding.
• ECF filers will receive a notice of electronic filing (NEF) with the embedded MP3 file when audio is uploaded to the docket.  As with other PDFs received via NEF, ECF filers will receive one free "listen,"which expires after 14 days.
• Digital audio will generally be available on the docket 1-2 business days after the hearing.
• Individual judges retain discretion as to what audio will be posted on the docket.
• Note that the official record of any court hearing remains the written transcript prepared by a court-approved transcriptionist.  Instructions for obtaining an official written transcript are located on the court's website:  http://www.wawb.uscourts.gov/order-transcript
• Court staff cannot redact audio files before they are placed on ECF.
• Practitioners are advised that private communications in the courtroom with clients or co-counsel should take place away from the microphone so as to avoid inadvertent recording.
• Additional technical information and step-by-step instructions for downloading and listening to an audio recording are linked below.

The court welcomes your comments and feedback as we implement this new service, a significant benefit to court customers in terms of cost, time and convenient access.  The Court may expand this service to include additional types of hearings in the future.

TECH TIPS & SUGGESTIONS

• The Court recommends customers set their PDFs to open in Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, not within Firefox, IE, Safari or Chrome browsers. The Chrome browser in particular has known issues.
• Customers who view PDF docs within their browser may not be able to see the attached .MP3 audio file and may receive error messages.
• It may take several minutes for audio to download after it's been selected from the ECF docket.  The longer the hearing, the bigger the file, the longer it will take to download. Please be patient.
• If you cannot hear audio when played, make sure the audio player is not muted or turned down too low.
• If your media player freezes or stops while playing audio, consider using another.  The court can confirm that the Windows Media Player works well with audio on the docket.
• If you continue to have difficulty downloading or playing audio, please send email to: curtis_udy@wawb.uscourts.gov.