Rule 1.1. Definitions

Application. The definitions in this rule govern the construction of these rules unless the context clearly requires otherwise. A term defined here names a record, field, status, or actor of the electronic filing system or of this State, and a rule employing such a term shall be enforced by reference to that record, status, or actor.

“Accepted for filing.” “Accepted for filing” means that the clerk has reviewed a filed submission and entered it upon the docket. Acceptance does not alter the filing date. Acceptance is the event upon which the electronic filing system effects electronic service.

“Action”; “civil action.” “Action” and “civil action” mean a proceeding of a civil nature commenced under Rule 3, including a proceeding denominated a petition or application which the law authorizes to be brought as an independent proceeding.

“Attorney of record.” “Attorney of record” means the attorney recorded by the electronic filing system as representing a party on a case. The link between an attorney and a party is created at the commencement of the action or by an accepted notice of appearance, and is severed only as Rule 11.1 provides. An attorney who has not been so recorded on a case has no authority to act for a party in that case, whatever the attorney’s relationship to that person outside the case.

“Bates number.” “Bates number” means the unique identifier which the electronic filing system assigns to a filing, in the form BATES-YYYYMMDD-##########. A Bates number identifies one filing, not one page and not one document. Bates numbers are neither sequential nor gapless, and no rule, order, or practice shall treat the order of two Bates numbers as evidence of the order in which the filings they identify were made.

“Case.” “Case” means a matter opened in the electronic filing system, having a case number, a court, a case type, a status, one or more parties, and an optional assigned judge.

“Case number.” “Case number” means the identifier which the electronic filing system generates for a case at its creation, in the form RSC-{TYPE}-{four digits} for a case of the Superior Court and RSPC-{TYPE}-{four digits} for a case of the Supreme Court. A legacy docket number of the Supreme Court in the form YY-NN is a case number for all purposes of these rules. A case number is not sequential and is not derived from the date of filing; it encodes nothing about the order in which cases were commenced.

“Case type.” “Case type” means the classification assigned to a case at its creation, from which the electronic filing system derives the initiating filing code, the confidentiality of the case, and the availability of the general filing channel.

“Clerk.” “Clerk” means the Clerk of the Superior Court appointed under 3 R. Stat. § 131.101, the Clerk of the Supreme Court appointed under 3 R. Stat. § 121.201, and any deputy clerk acting under the clerk’s direction, whose acts are entitled to the same faith and credit as the clerk’s own under 3 R. Stat. §§ 121.203 and 131.103. The clerk is the recorder of all official court documents within the Superior Court, the Magistrate Court, and the Administrative Court, as 3 R. Stat. § 131.102 provides. A clerk designated to one court has no authority over the record of the other.

“Court.” “Court” means the court in which the action is pending, acting through its assigned judge, and, as to an act these rules commit to the clerk, means the clerk.

“Day.” “Day” means a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours. Days run continuously from the moment of the event that begins the period, without regard to weekends, holidays, court hours, or any filing cutoff, none of which exist for the purpose of computing time under these rules.

“Docket.” “Docket” means the ordered record which the electronic filing system maintains for a case, consisting of the case record and of every filing on that case together with its documents, status, filing code, Bates number, and timestamps.

“Document.” “Document” means one file uploaded to the electronic filing system and attached to exactly one filing. A document, once received, is immutable and cannot be replaced, edited, redacted, or withdrawn.

“Electronic filing system.” “Electronic filing system” means the court’s electronic case management system operated at the court’s portal, through which cases are opened, documents are filed, the docket is maintained, fees are assessed, and electronic service is effected. The terms “electronic case management system” and “the court’s electronic filing system” wherever they appear in these rules mean the same thing.

“Electronic service.” “Electronic service” means the notice which the electronic filing system gives to every other participant in a case upon a filing’s acceptance for filing. Electronic service is made upon parties, upon each attorney of record, and upon the assigned judge; the filer is not served and instead receives a decision notice.

“Electronic signature.” “Electronic signature” means the name transmitted by an account holder with a filing. It constitutes that account holder’s signature upon every document of that filing and that account holder’s declaration, under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Ridgeway, that the contents are true and correct and that the account holder is authorized to submit the filing.

“Filed.” “Filed” means that the electronic filing system has received every document comprising a filing, at which time the filing is recorded as Submitted and bears the date and time of that receipt as its filing date. A filing which remains Pending has been tendered and is not filed.

“Filing.” “Filing” means a submission event, and not a paper. One filing carries one or more documents, one filing code, one electronic signature, one fee, and one status. Acceptance and rejection operate upon a filing as a unit.

“Filing code.” “Filing code” means the machine-readable designation of the nature of a submission, selected by the filer for a subsequent filing and derived from the case type for an initiating filing. The fee for a filing is computed from its filing code and never from the label a filer gives a document.

“Hour.” “Hour” means a period of sixty (60) consecutive minutes, running continuously from the moment of the event that begins the period.

“In-game.” “In-game” means within the simulated territory and systems of the State of Ridgeway, including the in-game warrants system, the law-enforcement radio, and the places, property, and persons represented there. An act done in-game is done in the county in which it is done.

“Judge”; “state judge.” “Judge” means the judicial officer assigned to the case. “State judge” means any supreme court justice, visiting justice, superior court judge, or magistrate judge, as 6 R. Stat. § 111.018 provides, and includes an administrative court judge when sitting in the Administrative Court.

“Party.” “Party” means a person recorded by the electronic filing system as a case party in the role of plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, or respondent, with an actor type of individual, business, or government. A person who is not so recorded is not a party, whatever the pleadings say of that person, and shall be added as Rule 17.1 provides before relief may be granted against that person.

“Person.” “Person” means a natural person holding an account, a business or other entity subject to suit under a common name, and an agency, department, or officer of the State, a county, or a municipality.

“Placeholder resident account.” “Placeholder resident account” means the resident account which the electronic filing system creates for a named party who has no account. Such an account is never an attorney account and is never privileged.

“Proceeding communications.” “Proceeding communications” means the communication channel designated for a case, in which the court convenes, argument and testimony are received, objections are made and ruled upon, and notices are given to those present. Proceeding communications are not the electronic filing system, and a paper is not filed by posting it in proceeding communications.

“Process.” “Process” means a summons, subpoena, or other instrument by which a court asserts its authority over a person, and includes every instrument which 7 R. Stat. § 131.101 directs to the sheriffs of this State.

“Public docket.” “Public docket” means those filings, and the documents thereof, which the electronic filing system makes available to persons who are not participants in the case. A filing is on the public docket only if it is at the status of Submitted or Accepted, on a case of a type not designated confidential, in the Superior Court.

“Record.” “Record” means the case record maintained by the electronic filing system, comprising the case, its parties, its filings and documents, the fees assessed, the summonses issued, the service particulars recorded upon the party records, and the orders and judgments entered.

“Sealed matter.” “Sealed matter” means a case of a type designated confidential, whose existence and documents the electronic filing system withholds from the public docket. Confidentiality attaches by case type alone. There is no sealing of an individual document and no redaction of a document within a case that is not itself a sealed matter.

“Self-represented party.” “Self-represented party” means a party who has no attorney of record. The electronic filing system records a pro se flag upon the party record. That flag does not limit or condition electronic service, which is made upon every participant alike.

“Sheriff.” “Sheriff” means the Sheriff of a county of this State and any deputy sheriff. The sheriff of the county is the executive officer of the Superior Court and is responsible for judicial security, service of process, and execution of court orders, as 3 R. Stat. § 131.005 provides.

“State.” “The State” means the State of Ridgeway. A proceeding against an individual in an official capacity as an agent of the government is a case against the government, as 7 R. Stat. § 122.004 provides.

“Summons.” “Summons” means the instrument which the clerk issues under Rule 4 to a defendant or respondent party, commanding that party to appear and defend.

“Tendered.” “Tendered” means transmitted to the electronic filing system such that a filing record exists, before all constituent documents have been received. A tendered filing is recorded as Pending. A tendered filing is not public, is not served, and is not filed.

“Username.” “Username” means the name of the account by which a person is identified in this State. A party, witness, attorney, or other person shall be named in a pleading, motion, summons, subpoena, order, or return by username. Where a person’s username is unknown, that person may be designated by any name or description by which the person can be identified with reasonable certainty, and shall be renamed by username upon that name becoming known.

“Workflow-owned matter.” “Workflow-owned matter” means a case of a type to which the general filing channel of the electronic filing system is closed, and in which filings are made only through the dedicated workflow prescribed for that type. Rule 5.4 governs.

“Writing”; “written.” “Writing” and “written” include a document filed through the electronic filing system, and a message recorded in proceeding communications where these rules or an order of the court so provide.