Virtual Pleadings

(Based on CM/ECF Version 2.2 and Netscape Version 4.7)

WHAT IS A VIRTUAL PLEADING?	The simplest description is that a virtual pleading will never be created in paper format. It will only exist as an electronic entry on the bankruptcy case’s docket or the adversary proceeding’s docket. With a virtual pleading, the docket entry itself contains all the required language that used to be in the official paper pleading. These pleadings will be assigned a document number on the case’s docket report, but the document number will not be a hyperlink because there is no .pdf image to view – the docket entry is the pleading.
WHAT KINDS OF PLEADINGS WILL BE VIRTUAL?	Almost any kind of pleading could become a virtual pleading. Most courts that are on CM/ECF have switched some of the pleadings filed by a case’s trustee to virtual pleadings. They have also switched some of the court’s own orders to virtual orders. Examples of virtual pleadings which are being commonly used by CM/ECF courts include, but are not limited to: the Ch. 7 trustee’s “Report of No Distribution”, and the court’s “Order Allowing Payment of Filing Fee in Installments”, and some court’s orders to amend are now virtual pleadings.
WHO WILL FILE VIRTUAL PLEADINGS?	The same entity that filed the paper pleading in the past. Using our above examples, Ch. 7 trustees would file the virtual no distribution reports and court users would file virtual orders.
WHAT WILL A VIRTUAL PLEADING LOOK LIKE?	In this example, there is a document number, but it is NOT a hyperlink to a .pdf image because this notice IS the ORDER because this is a VIRTUAL ORDER. NOTE THIS LANGUAGE!! NOTE: The required language will be followed by “/s/______ Judge”. For example, the entry might end with “/s/William S. Howard, Judge”. NOTE: The judge’s signature will then be followed by a “NOTE:” that this entry is the official ORDER of the court.
WHAT WILL BE A VIRTUAL PLEADING IN THE USBC EDKY?	The systems staff, along with our judges, are still researching and determining which pleadings will be “virtual” in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Keep checking our court’s website, www.kyeb.uscourts.gov , for future developments.