TITLE THREE — PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS
Rule 10. Form of Pleadings
Caption; Names of Parties. Every pleading shall contain a caption setting forth the name of the court and the county, the title of the action, the case number, and a designation of the nature of the paper as provided in Rule 7(1) or Rule 7(2). In the complaint the title of the action shall include the names of all the parties, but in other pleadings it is sufficient to state the name of the first party on each side with an appropriate indication of other parties. The caption shall further contain the username of the person filing the paper and, where that person is an attorney, the party for whom the paper is filed.
Adoption by Reference; Exhibits. Statements in a pleading may be adopted by reference in a different part of the same pleading or in another pleading or in any motion. A copy of any written instrument which is an exhibit to a pleading is a part thereof for all purposes. An exhibit may be transmitted as an additional document within the same filing as the pleading, or, if transmitted separately, under the filing code for Exhibit/Evidence, in which case it shall identify by Bates number the filing to which it relates.
Paragraphs; Separate Statements. A party shall state its claims or defenses in numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances. A later pleading may refer by number to a paragraph in an earlier pleading. Each claim founded on a separate transaction or occurrence, and each defense other than a denial, shall be stated in a separate count or defense.
The Case Number and the Bates Number. The case number assigned by the electronic filing system is the docket number of the action and shall appear in the caption of every paper. The case number encodes nothing about the order or the date of filing, and no right shall be asserted from its form. The Bates number is assigned by the electronic filing system to a filing, not to a document or to a page; it cannot be known before transmission and shall not be required to appear on a document. A paper referring to a prior filing shall identify it by its Bates number where that number is known.
Documents and Filings.
A filing is a submission event and may carry any number of documents. A document is a single file within a filing. There is no limit upon the number of documents that may be carried by one filing.
No document shall exceed fifty (50) megabytes. This limit is enforced by the electronic filing system. A document that exceeds it is not received; the filing remains tendered and is not filed until every document in it has been received. A party whose material exceeds the limit shall divide it among two or more documents within the same filing.
The Document Builder. The court maintains a document builder which composes pleading paper, briefs, motions, and proposed orders, renders them for filing, and reports non-compliance with the form requirements of these rules. Its use is optional. A document produced by the document builder and filed without alteration satisfies subdivisions 1, 3, and 5(3) of this rule. A document prepared elsewhere is transmitted and filed without any check of its form.
No Validation at Intake. The electronic filing system validates no requirement of form. It does not verify a caption, a case number, a designation of the nature of a paper, a numbered paragraph, a page or word limit, a typeface, or a file format. Every requirement of form in these rules is enforced by the clerk in reviewing a filing and by the court on motion, and by no other means.
Effect of Non-Compliance.
A failure to comply with this rule is grounds for rejection of the filing by the clerk under Rule 5.3, in the clerk’s judgment, and is grounds for a motion to strike under Rule 12(3). It is not a bar to transmission, and the electronic filing system will not refuse a paper for want of form.
Rejection operates upon the filing as a unit; the clerk cannot accept some documents of a filing and reject others.
The court shall disregard a defect of form that does not affect the substantial rights of the parties, as provided by 7 R. Stat. § 132.401.
Sensitive Matter. The electronic filing system provides no means of sealing or redacting a document, and confidentiality attaches to a matter by its case type alone. A party shall not include in any pleading, motion, exhibit, or other paper matter that the party wishes withheld from the public docket. Protection of sensitive matter is governed by Rule 5.6 and by protective orders that bind persons.