TITLE TWO — COMMENCEMENT OF ACTION; SERVICE OF PROCESS, PLEADINGS, MOTIONS AND ORDERS
Rule 3. Commencement of Action
Commencement. A civil action is commenced by filing a complaint through the electronic filing system. The action is commenced at the moment the complaint is filed, that is, when the electronic filing system has received every document comprising the initiating filing and records that filing as Submitted. A complaint which has been tendered but not filed commences no action.
Immediate Docketing. Upon the filing of the complaint the electronic filing system opens the case, generates its case number, and records its status as active. The case is upon the docket from that instant.
There is no lodged, tendered, held, or conditional state at the level of the case. No provision of these rules shall be read to require, and no clerk or judge shall impose, a hold upon a case pending review, payment, correction, or assignment.
Review by the clerk under Rule 5.3 is a quality gate applied to filings after the case is docketed, and is not a condition of commencement.
Neither the assignment of a judge, nor the issuance of a summons, nor the making of service is a condition of commencement.
Entry Fee. The entry fee is assessed by the electronic filing system upon filing, computed from the filing code derived from the case type, and consists of the case-initiation, document-filing, and service fee components fixed by the schedule of fees.
The assessment of the fee, and its non-payment, do not affect the commencement of the action, the docketing of the case, the acceptance of any filing, the making of service, or the availability of the record upon the public docket.
An unpaid fee is a debt owed to the court and is collected as such. Non-payment is a collection matter and is not a bar to any step in the action. No order shall condition the docketing of a case, or the acceptance or public availability of a filing, upon payment of a fee.
The fee assessed upon a party exempt from fees by role is recorded as paid in the amount of zero, and the record of assessment stands.
Contents of the Initiating Filing. The initiating filing shall consist of a complaint conforming to Rules 8, 9, and 10, and may include such exhibits and accompanying documents as the filer attaches to it. The filer shall:
name every party by username, in the role of plaintiff or defendant, or petitioner or respondent, in which that party is joined;
state the county in which the action accrued or in which the property in litigation is located, venue being fixed by 7 R. Stat. §§ 131.001 through 131.003, and Rule 55.1 governing;
state the grounds of the court’s jurisdiction, and, where the defendant is not a resident of this State, the act enumerated in 7 R. Stat. § 131.107 upon which jurisdiction is asserted; and
include a demand for judgment for the relief to which the pleader deems himself entitled. The electronic filing system validates none of the foregoing. A defect in the initiating filing is ground for rejection by the clerk in the clerk’s judgment under Rule 5.3, and is otherwise reached only by motion.
Title of the Case. The electronic filing system generates the title of the case from the parties, in the form “X v. Y,” “In re: X,” or “Ex Parte: X,” unless the filer supplies a title. A supplied title shall name the first party on each side by username. The title is a convenience of the record and does not enlarge or limit the parties joined.
Rejection of a Case by the Clerk. The clerk may reject a case, upon a reason recorded with the rejection, only while the case is active and no judge has been assigned to it. Assignment of a judge terminates the clerk’s authority to reject the case.
Rejection of a case rejects every filing upon that case then at the status of Pending or Submitted, and voids every fee upon that case then pending.
The reason for rejection shall be stated in not more than five hundred (500) characters, and is recorded with the identity of the rejecting clerk and the time of rejection.
A rejected case, its filings, its documents, and the reason for its rejection are not public. Rule 5.3 governs.
Rejection is not an adjudication upon the merits, is without prejudice, and does not bar the commencement of a new action upon the same claim.
No filing made upon a rejected case may be accepted, and no summons may issue upon it. The remedy for rejection is the commencement of a new action, corrected.
Where a party commences a new action after the rejection of a case and contends that the rejection was erroneous, the court may, upon motion in the new action identifying the rejected case number, determine that the earlier filing shall be treated as the date of commencement for the purpose of a statute of limitation or other period fixed by law. Such a determination is made by order and operates as a matter of law only; the record shall continue to show the actual dates of both filings, and no filing date in the record is altered.
Assignment of a Judge. A judge is assigned to a case separately from its filing, as Rule 3.1(9) provides. A case may be active, docketed, and served upon while unassigned. No act of a party effects an assignment.
Permanence of the Record. A case, once commenced, remains upon the record of the court. The record of a case shall not be deleted except upon the written order of the Chief Justice, entered for cause stated, and no such order shall be entered upon the application of a party.