Today is the last day to submit comments on the Tax Court’s proposed amendments to its Rules of Practice and Procedure regarding an Interim Rule and Interim Procedures for the establishment of an electronic filing pilot program:
The Tax Court proposes to establish a pilot program for the electronic filing of documents with the Court. The Court will implement its pilot program in specific geographic areas, including only cases in which all petitioners are represented by attorneys or other individuals admitted to practice before the Court. Electronic filing in such cases within the designated geographic areas will be mandatory, subject to the discretion of the judicial officer to whom a case is assigned. Large cases that have been assigned to a judicial officer will also be included in the pilot program, and individual judicial officers will be permitted to request participation. The geographic areas and the duration of the pilot program are matters that will be determined by the Chief Judge and the Clerk on the basis of public comment and experience with the pilot program. The Court will consider electronic filing by pro se petitioners at some future date.
The benefits of electronic filing include: 24-hour access to case files over the Internet, automatic e-mail notice of case activity, ability to download and print up-to-date documents directly from the Court system, concurrent access to case files by multiple parties, savings in time and expenditures for attorneys, expanded search and reporting capabilities, elimination of the cost of mail or courier services, faster delivery and easier tracking of case activity, and a reduction in physical storage space needs and document processing times. See http://pacer.psc.uscourts.gov/cmecf.
Proposed Interim Rule 22A permits the filing, signing, and verification of documents by electronic means in cases within the pilot program. The Model Local District Court Rules for Electronic Case Filing in Civil Cases, endorsed by the Judicial Conference of the United States, March 2005 (Model Rules), state that the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide that a court may “by local rule” permit filing, signing, and verification of documents by electronic means, and that each District Court is authorized to make and amend rules governing its practice. Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(e), 83(a). The Model Rules further state that each court that intends to allow electronic filing should have at least a general authorizing provision in its local rules. Proposed Interim Rule 22A is derived from the Model Rules’ example of a local rule authorizing electronic filing. Under section 7453, the proceedings of the Tax Court are conducted in accordance with the Rules of Practice and Procedure prescribed by the Court and with the rules of evidence applicable in nonjury trials in the District Court for the District of Columbia. There appears to be no statutory prohibition on the Court’s providing by Rule for electronic filing.
The majority of the district and bankruptcy courts, the Court of Federal Claims, and the Court of International Trade accept electronically filed documents in accordance with policy and procedures devised and implemented by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AO). The joint project of the AO and the Federal courts is called CM/ECF (Case Management/Electronic Case Files). The Tax Court will not be a participant in the CM/ECF system.
