GENERAL INFO.	This lesson will cover the steps necessary to file an “Answer to a Complaint” on behalf of one of the defendant(s) in the adversary proceeding. It will also briefly demonstrate filing an “Answer” that includes another part, such as an “Answer and Counterclaim”.
HELP SCREENS	Help is available for most screens by clicking on the button. The help box will display describing the fields and what entry is required for the window you are currently viewing. Click on the button at the upper right hand corner of the screen or the button to close the help screen.
STEP 1	Log in to the CM/ECF System using your ECF Login and Password if you aren’t already logged in. NOTE: After logging in, if you click on Netscape Navigator’s (resize) button accidentally instead of clicking the minimize button, or if you drag the sides to resize the Netscape window, there is a Netscape Navigator bug which will throw you out of your CM/ECF session and you will lose all the information that you have entered up to that point. So, resize the window before you login!
STEP 2	Click on “Adversary” in the blue menu bar at the top of the screen.
ADVERSARY CATEGORIES	The available adversary categories are now displayed.
STEP 3	Click on the hyperlink in the categories list.
STEP 4	The “Answers” submenu displays next. NOTE: Unfortunately, in the adversary category, CM/ECF refers to any kind of responsive pleading as an “Answer”. Instead of having an “Answer” category for true “Answers” and a separate category for “Objections” or “Responses” or “Replies” to a “Motion” in an adversary case, they have thrown all responsive pleadings together under one category. So, there is a submenu where you will have to choose one of two choices. You would click on the hyperlink if you were filing an “Objection”, “Response” or “Reply” to a “Motion”. You would click on the hyperlink if you were filing an “Answer” to a “Complaint”, to a “Third-Party Complaint”, to a “Crossclaim”, or to a “Counterclaim”. Click the hyperlink since you are filing an “Answer” to a “Complaint” in this training case.
STEP 5	The “Complaint/Summons” case number screen will display next. It may contain the case number of the last case you have been using during the current login session. Leave the number if it is the correct case, or enter the correct case number (yy-nnnn), including the hyphen. For training purposes, it will not be necessary to change the case number. NOTE: If you change the case number and make an error entering the new case number, the system will display the following message regarding the case number format. Click the button or the button and try entering the case number again.
STEP 6	Click the button.
STEP 7	The opportunity to indicate that you are filing this “Answer” jointly with another attorney now displays. See the separate instructions for “Joint Filing Option” if you are actually filing the “Answer” jointly with another attorney.
STEP 8	Click the button.
STEP 9	The opportunity to select the party you represent will now display. There should never be a need to search for or create your client when filing an “Answer” because an “Answer” would only be needed if a “Complaint” had been filed and the defendant(s) added. Select the defendant(s) that you represent by using your mouse to click on their name(s) to highlight it as shown below. NOTE: You can tell which parties are defendants because they have [pty:dft] after their name. NOTE: If the “Answer” is being filed on behalf of more than one defendant, hold down the “Ctrl” key while clicking all the defendants for whom you are filing this “Answer”.
STEP 10	Click the button.
STEP 11	Usually (except when filing the “Petition), the first time you file a pleading in a case for your client, the system will verify your association to your client with the following screen instead of automatically adding you as the attorney. Use your mouse to click in the small square box next to the party’s name to insert a check mark into it. The system will now know to automatically associate you to your client on any future pleadings that you file on your client’s behalf.
STEP 12	Click the button.
STEP 13	There can be a number of pleadings in an adversary that require an “Answer”, such as “Complaints”, “Amended Complaints”, “Crossclaims”, “Counterclaims”, and “Third-Party Complaints” You will use the screen below to choose the pleading to which this “Answer” is responding. In this training case, use your mouse to click in the small square box next to the “Complaint” to insert a check mark into it. NOTE: If the original “Complaint” is amended, make sure you put a check mark next to both the original “Complaint” and the “Amended Complaint”.
STEP 14	Then, click the button.
STEP 15	The opportunity to search for and select the .pdf image of the “Answer” is now provided. Follow the separate instructions for “Browsing For and Selecting the Correct .pdf Document” to find, open, review and select the “Answer” .pdf image. For the training case, the .pdf documents will be on the local “c:/” drive. NOTE: At your law firm, the .pdf documents may be stored on a network drive or on the “c:/” drive of a staff member’s computer.
.PDF WARNING MESSAGE	If you click on the button to advance without attaching a .pdf document, a “Warning Message” will be displayed. Click the button to close the message. You will then, once again, have the opportunity to browse to select the .pdf image of the document.
ATTACH- MENTS	The legal mind thinks of an attachment as any supporting document(s) stapled or attached to the back of the main pleading. These types of legal attachments will be referred to in this documentation as “supporting documentation”. In the USBC EDKY, the “attachment” feature is used in only two situations: (1) when the main pleading, plus any supporting documentation is more than 50 pages in length, and (2) for attaching proposed orders. The “Answer” in this training case is less than 50 pages, so leave the attachment setting at “No”.
STEP 16	A verification screen will now display to verify that you have chosen the document to which you are filing an “Answer”. Click the button as long as the same document you had previously chosen is displayed.
STEP 17	In case your “Answer” .pdf includes other parts, you now have an opportunity to include the other part(s). Click the button without doing anything else on this screen since for training we are filing a simple “Answer”.
STEP 18	The “Docket Text: Modify as Appropriate” window now displays because some modification can be done to the docket text. Use the “drop-down box” and the “text box” to modify the docket text summary. For training, no modifications will be made.
FINAL DOCKET TEXT SCREEN	The “Docket Text: Final Text” screen now displays. NOTE: The “Attention!!” message shown above is to alert you to the fact that this is the point of no return! This is the last opportunity to make any changes before the document is officially filed.
NOTES RE: ERRORS MADE WHILE FILING	If the docket text is incorrect, click on the browser’s button as many times as necessary to find the error and correct it. NOTE: You will not be able to use the button to correct your errors if you are using Internet Explorer 5.5 because you will be thrown out of the system the 2^nd time you click it. You will need to click on the “Adversary “ hyperlink in the main menu bar. Then, you will have to start the event all over again and you will have lost most of the “Answer” information that you have entered. NOTE: If using Netscape Version 4.7, you can usually go backwards and forwards through the various screens using the browser’s “Back” and “Forward” buttons without losing any data as long as you make no changes. But, if you make a change, the information on the screens from the point of the error forward will have to be re-entered after you have corrected the error because the information from the error forward will have been lost. Also, if you back up to a screen earlier than the screen where you search for the .pdf document, you will lose the .pdf document and you will have to search for the .pdf document and select it all over again.
STEP 19	Click the button to send the document to the court.
SUMMARY OF CHARGES SCREEN	There are no filing fees for filing an “Answer”. However, if you owe filing fees for previous documents filed, the “Summary of Current Charges” screen will display next. Click the button and follow the separate instructions for “Payment of Fees Via the Internet”, if you wish to go ahead and pay the filing fee immediately. Click the button, if you wish to pay all the filing fees for a particular day all at once near the end of the day. Later, when you desire to pay all your accumulated filing fees for the day, follow the separate instructions for “Payment of Fees Via the Internet”.
NOTICE OF ELEC- TRONIC FILING	After you have continued the filing or completed the payment process, the “Notice of Electronic Filing” will now display. See the separate instructions regarding “Notices of Electronic Filing”.
ADDITIONAL STEPS REQUIRED IF THE ANSWER CONTAINS OTHER PARTS	In Step 17, if you choose one of the three options shown below, a series of new screens will then display.
ANSWER WITH COUNTER- CLAIM EXAMPLE
ALTERNATE STEP 17	After clicking in the box next to counterclaim, click the button.
COUNTER PARTY COMPLAINT SCREEN	A “Counter Party Complaint” screen will now display. This screen allows you to choose the plaintiff(s) against whom you are filing the “Counterclaim”. NOTE: You can also choose a group of “All Plaintiffs”, etc. if applicable.
ALTERNATE STEP 18	In this example, since there is only one plaintiff, click on the name of the plaintiff your client is counterclaiming against.
ALTERNATE STEP 19	Click the button.
ALTERNATE STEP 20	The “Docket Text: Modify as Appropriate” window now displays because some modification can be done to the docket text. Use the “drop-down box” and the “text boxes” to modify the docket text summary. Make any necessary or desirable modifications to docket text similar to the example shown above.
ALTERNATE STEP 21	Click the button.
ALTERNATE FINAL DOCKET TEXT SCREEN	The “Docket Text: Final Text” screen now displays.
ALTERNATE STEP 22	Click the button to send the document to the court.
EXAMPLE OF CHANGE TO ANSWER DUE DEADLINE	The same kind of “Query” of the “Deadlines/Hearings” in the adversary proceeding that was run in the previous “Summons Issued” module will now produce slightly different results. Since “Jacqueline Dupree Onassis” has now filed an “Answer”, the deadline by which she needed to file an “Answer” now shows the date that the deadline was “satisfied”. The “satisfied” column reflects the date that you filed her “Answer” because that is when she complied with the deadline previously established by the “Adversary Summons Issuance” event.