GENERAL

INFO.

 

The typical steps when filing an “Objection” or “Response” are:

 

·        Click on “Objection/Response” hyperlink

·        Click on appropriate subcategory (usually “Reference an Existing motion/application”)

·        Enter case number on the “File an Answer to Motion” case number screen

·        Select type of responsive pleading using drop down list

·        Bypass or choose “Joint Filing” (if yes, pick joint attorney from list)

·        Search for and select the client you represent (occasionally you may need to add the client) and change their role type to the appropriate type

·        Associate yourself to client (first pleading filed)

·        Browse for and select the “Objection” .pdf image

·        Browse for and select the proposed “Order” .pdf image

·        Link the “Objection” to the appropriate “Motion”

·        Submit “Objection” to court

·        Print and/or save copy of “Notice of Electronic Filing”

 

The instructions below are specifically for filing an “Objection” to a  “Motion to Avoid Lien”.

 

 

 

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 the  hyperlink in the categories list.

 

 

 

STEP 3

 

The Answer/Response submenu displays next.  Answer is being used in a general way here to describe objections or responses.  This is not related to the pleading “Answer to a Complaint”.  That pleading is filed under the “Adversary” hyperlink. 

 

 

Since this “Objection” refers to a “Motion to Avoid Lien”, click on the “Reference an Existing motion/application” hyperlink.

 

 

 

STEP 4

 

The “File an answer to a motion” 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-nnnnn), including the hyphen.

 

 

Change the case number if necessary.  For training, you want to be in your Chapter 7 case.

 

NOTE:  If you changed the case number, the system may display the following message regarding the case number format. 

 

 

Click the  button or the  button and try entering the case number again.

 

 

 

STEP 5

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 6

 

The next screen provides an opportunity to choose whether an objection or response is being filed.

 

 

Click on the drop down arrow to display the choices.

 

 

Click on “Objection” to select it as shown below.

 

 

NOTE:  If your response to a pleading requests an opposite disposition to the prayer that the motion/application seeks, you are filing an “Objection” (no matter what you titled your pleading).  If your response to a pleading specifies that you do not oppose the prayer that the motion/application seeks, you are filing a “Response” (no matter what you titled your pleading).

 

 

 

STEP 7

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 8

 

The opportunity to include information about whether the pleading is being filed jointly with another attorney will now appear.  If you are filing jointly, follow the steps set out in the separate instructions on the “Joint Filing Option”.

 

 

Click the  button for this training case because the “Objection” is not being filed jointly.

 

 

 

STEP 9

 

A screen similar to the following “Select the Party:” screen will now display.  If your client is already in the list of parties, you simply click on their name to highlight and select them as shown in the example below.  In your training case, National City Bank will be in the list, so you will only have to click them.

 

 

Then, click the  button and finish filing the pleading because no searching or adding will be necessary.

 

NOTE:  If this is the first pleading you have filed on behalf of your client in a debtor’s bankruptcy case, they will NOT be in the list of party filers for the case unless someone else has previously filed a pleading on behalf of your client in the case.

 

Click the  hyperlink If your client is not already in the list of parties in the case.

 

NOTE:  Although the hyperlink is labeled “Add/Create New Party”, what you are really doing is searching for a party that likely already exists and only adding them if they do not already exist in the party records table.

 

 

 

STEP 10

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 11

 

The following message now displays.

 

 

This message is to make you aware of separate objection codes for certain types of objections.  These codes are located in another category, NOT the category you are currently using.  So, if you are trying to file an “Objection to a Claim” or if you are trying to file an “Objection to Confirmation of Plan”, you would need to stop your current filing and start again in a different category.  For training, we are filing a plain “Objection” to a “Motion to Avoid Lien”, so this message is not applicable to our situation.

 

Click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 12

 

You then have an opportunity to browse for and select the .pdf image of the “Objection”.

 

 

Follow the separate instructions for “Browsing For and Selecting the Correct .pdf Document” to find, open, review, and select the “Objection” .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.

 

 

 

STEP 13

 

After browsing for and selecting the .pdf image of the objection, click in the “Attachments”, “Yes”, radio button to change the selection from “No” to “Yes”.

 

 

Then, follow the separate instructions for  “Adding Attachments” to attach the .pdf image of the proposed order.

 

NOTE:  When filing an “Objection”, you should attach a proposed “Order” that denies the relief that the original pleading was requesting.

 

 

 

STEP 14

 

You now must choose the category of pleading to which you are objecting. 

 

In the training case, since you are objecting to a “Motion to Avoid Lien”, you scroll down and click on “motion”.

 

 

NOTE:  the “motion” category includes motions and applications, so 99% of the time, this will be the category you will need to click.

 

NOTE:  You can choose more than one category if you aren’t sure what category the pleading is in, but you must choose at least one category.  If you attempt to bypass this screen without choosing a category, the following message will display.

 

 

NOTE:  To choose more than one category, hold down the “ctrl” (control) key while clicking on each category.  It is NOT recommended that you choose multiple categories in a big case or the CM/ECF system will be very slow in responding.

 

 

 

STEP 15

 

Scroll down and click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 16

 

The pending motions screen displays next.  This screen is where you will link your objection to the appropriate pending motion/application. 

 

NOTE:  In the example shown below, there are only two pending motions, but in a large Ch. 11 case, this list could be much longer.  It might be necessary, in that situation, to scroll down through a list to find the appropriate motion/application.

 

 

Click on the small square box next to the “Motion to Avoid the Lien of National City Bank” to put a check mark in it.

 

 

 

 

STEP 17

 

Scroll down, if necessary, and click the  button.

 

 

 

STEP 18

 

Since the installation of Version 2.2, occasional “non” screens have cropped up such as the example below.

 

 

When such a screen appears, simply click the  button. 

 

 

 

FINAL DOCKET TEXT SCREEN

 

The “Docket Text: Final Text” window 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 2nd time you click it.  You will need to click on the “Bankruptcy “ hyperlink in the main menu bar. 

 

 


 

Then, you will have to start  the “Objection” all over again and you will have lost most of the 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 complete filing the “Objection”.

 

 

 

SUMMARY

OF CHARGES SCREEN

 

There are no filing fees for filing an “Objection”.  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

 

The “Notice of Electronic Filing” will now display.  See the separate instructions regarding “Notices of Electronic Filing”.