TITLE NINE — GENERAL PROVISIONS
Rule 59. Clerk’s Authority; Notice of Orders
The Office. The Clerk of the Superior Court serves as the recorder of all official court documents within the Superior Court, the Magistrate Court, and the Administrative Court, and shall record and certify all orders, judgments, and decrees of those courts, as provided by 3 R. Stat. § 131.102. The Clerk of the Supreme Court takes receipt of all filings before the Supreme Court and maintains them in an accessible manner, as provided by 3 R. Stat. § 121.205.
Deputies. Deputy clerks, authorized by and under the direction of the Clerk, have full power to perform such duties as may be performed by the Clerk, and any act of a deputy clerk is entitled to the same faith and credit as that of the Clerk, as provided by 3 R. Stat. §§ 131.103 and 121.203. The Clerk is responsible in all cases for the acts of a deputy.
Oaths; Affidavits; Seal. The Clerk or a deputy clerk may administer oaths, in or out of court, touching any matter in which an oath may be legally administered, and may take any affidavit requested or permitted in the progress of a proceeding, as provided by 3 R. Stat. §§ 131.104 and 121.204. The Clerk is the keeper of the court’s seal and shall use it upon such documents as the court requires, as provided by 3 R. Stat. §§ 131.105 and 121.206.
Acts the Clerk Performs Without Direction. Without awaiting the direction of a judge, the Clerk shall:
issue a subpoena, signed but otherwise in blank, to a party requesting it, under Rule 32(1);
enter a default under Rule 37(1);
enter judgment for a sum certain under Rules 37(2) and 40(1);
enter judgment upon an accepted offer of judgment under Rule 49(3);
issue a writ of attachment under Rule 51(3) and any other writ or order necessary to enforce a judgment for a specific act;
execute and record the satisfaction of a judgment and discharge any lien imposed by it, under 7 R. Stat. § 132.003;
maintain the record of court costs assessed against a party, as 7 R. Stat. § 132.202 requires;
enter upon the docket every paper delivered to the Clerk by a person who cannot transmit a filing to the electronic filing system, as Rules 50(5)(h), 52(4), and 48(3)(c) provide; and
transmit the notices this Title requires to be transmitted to the Secretary of State, to an employer, to the Ridgeway State Bar, or to the Attorney General, and note each transmission upon the docket.
Clerk Review of Filings.
The Clerk shall review each filing and shall accept it or reject it. The filing is the unit of decision; the Clerk cannot accept part of a filing and reject the remainder.
The Clerk shall not accept a filing unless every document comprising it has been received.
A rejection requires a reason, stated in not more than five hundred (500) characters, recorded with the identity of the rejecting clerk and the time of rejection. The reason is disclosed to the filer and to the staff of the court and is not public.
A filing already accepted or rejected shall not be re-decided. Where bytes are received on a document after the filing was accepted, the filing returns to the status of Submitted and is reviewed again.
The Clerk shall not decline to accept a filing for non-payment of a fee. A fee is assessed on filing and collected as a debt.
Grounds for rejection are those Rule 5.3 prescribes. Compliance with the requirements of form is a matter of the Clerk’s judgment; the electronic filing system validates no requirement of form.
The Clerk shall not review a warrant matter; those are decided by a judge in the warrants workflow.
Rejection of a Notice of Appearance strikes the representation, and is the only act that removes an attorney of record.
Notice of Orders and Judgments.
Immediately upon the entry of an order or judgment, the Clerk shall enter it upon the docket.
Notice of the entry is given to every participant in the case by the electronic filing system. Where the system does not generate notice of a particular entry, the Clerk shall give notice in the proceeding communications of the case and shall note that notice upon the docket.
The failure of a participant to receive notice does not affect the validity of the order or judgment, but is a ground for the enlargement of a period under Rule 6(2) and for relief under Rule 42(2).
Notice to a person who is not a participant is given as Rule 56(2)(c) prescribes.
Limits on the Clerk.
The Clerk shall not give legal advice, shall not advise a person whether a claim or defense is meritorious, and shall not decline to accept a filing on the ground that the claim asserted appears to lack merit.
The Clerk’s acceptance of a filing decides nothing about jurisdiction, venue, the timeliness of the paper, or the sufficiency of the claim.
A clerk designated for one court has no authority in the other.
Review of the Clerk’s Action. A party aggrieved by an act or omission of the Clerk may move the court to review it. The motion shall be filed in the case, or, where the Clerk’s act prevented a filing, delivered to the court through the proceeding communications. The court may direct the Clerk to act, may treat a rejected filing as having been tendered at the hour it was first transmitted for the purpose of enlarging a period under Rule 6(2), and may grant such other relief as is just. The court cannot direct the electronic filing system to alter a filing date already recorded.
Fees. A fee schedule for services rendered by the Clerk is fixed by rule of the Supreme Court, as provided by 3 R. Stat. §§ 131.106 and 121.207. These rules state no dollar amount.