Washington State Courts

Spokane Municipal Court

SPMGR 30
ELECTRONIC SIGNATURES AND FILING

(a) Reserved by state rule

(1-5) Reserved by state rule

(6) "Conventional manner of filing" is the filing of paper documents with the Clerk as is done in cases that are
not e-file cases.

(7) Electronic Document ("e-document") - An electronic file containing informational text.

(8) "Electronic Filing" or "e-filing" is the electronic transmission of information to a court or clerk for case
processing.

(9) Electronic Image ("e-image") - An electronic representation of a document that has been transformed to a
graphical or image format.

(10) Electronic Service ("e-service") - An electronic transmission of documents to a party, attorney or
representative in a case via the vendor. However, e-service is not capable of conferring jurisdiction under
circumstances where personal service is required as a matter of law.

(11) "PDF" - Portable Document Format (PDF) is a file format that preserves all fonts, formatting colors and
graphics of any source document regardless of the application platform used.

(12) "Subscriber" is one contracting with a Vendor to use the e-filing system.

(13) "Vendor" is a company or organization that has an executed Electronic Information Project Agreement with the
Clerk of the Spokane Municipal Court.

(b) Reserved by state rule

(1-4) Reserved by state rule

(5) Mandatory Electronic Filing.

(A) Commencing on the date the City of Spokane eSuite case management system goes live, attorneys from the
Office of the City Prosecuting Attorney and the Spokane City Public Defenders Office shall electronically file all
documents, including emergency pleadings, using the e-filing application, unless this rule provides otherwise.

(B) Commencing on the date the City of Spokane eSuite case management system goes live, through
December 31, 2019, attorneys not employed by the City of Spokane are encouraged to use the e-filing application, but
are not required to do so. Commencing January 1, 2020, all attorneys shall electronically file all documents,
including emergency pleadings, using the e-filing application, unless this rule provides otherwise.

(6) Documents That Shall Not Be e-filed. The following documents must be filed in paper form rather than efiled.

(A) Documents submitted for in camera review, or documents supporting motions to seal, including documents
submitted pursuant to GR 15;

(B) Documents presented for filing during a court hearing or trial;

(D) Documents from governments or other courts under official seal, except that a copy may be e-filed as an
exhibit to another document, such as a pleading, by leave of the court;

(E) Documents larger than permitted in the User Agreement;

(7) Documents That May Be e-filed. The following documents may be e-filed.

(A) Appeals

(i) If filed electronically, the filing party must retain the original document during the pendency of any
appeal and until at least sixty (60) days after completion of the instant case, and shall present the original document
to the court if requested to do so. This does not include documents that are or will be submitted as an exhibit in a
hearing or trial.

(ii) If filed electronically, the filing party must retain the original document during the pendency of any
appeal and until at least sixty (60) days after completion of the instant case, and shall present the original document
to the court if requested to do so. This does not include documents that are or will be submitted as an exhibit in a
hearing or trial.

(B) Working Copies

(i) Judges working copies for e-filed documents are not required, except that paper working copies of
e-filed documents of 50 pages or more shall be delivered to the judge.

(8) Maintenance of Original Documents:

(A) Anyone filing an electronic document that requires an original signature certifies by so filing, that
the original signed document exists in the filing person's possession or that the document so filed is the original
documents as evidenced by the digital or electronic signature contained thereon. Unless otherwise ordered by the
Court, the filing party must retain the original document as signed either conventionally or electronically, until one
year after the date that judgment has become final by the conclusion of direct review or the expiration of the time for
seeking such review. The filing party shall make those signed originals available for inspection by the Court, the
Clerk of the Court or by other counsel in the case, upon five (5) days' notice. At any time, the Clerk of the Court may
request from the filing party a hard copy of an electronically filed document, which shall be provided within five (5)
business days upon reasonable notice.

(9) Privacy Issues:

(A) It is the responsibility of the filing party or counsel to insure that documents filed electronically do
not disclose previously or statutorily impounded or sealed information or private information defined in Supreme Court
Rules 15 and 138.

(B) All documents in confidential, impounded, or sealed cases must be submitted conventionally to the
clerk's office for filing. A party who has a legal basis for filing a document under seal without prior court order
must electronically file a motion for leave to file under seal. The motion must include an explanation of how the
document meets the legal standards for filing sealed documents. The document in question may not be attached to the
motion as an attachment.

(C) In addition to the materials referenced in Supreme Court Rules 15 and 138, parties and their counsel
shall refrain from including, or shall redact where inclusion is necessary, the following personal identifies from all
documents electronically filed with the court, including exhibits, thereto, unless a prosecuting authority or probation
representative is requesting a warrant or unless otherwise ordered by the Court.

(i) Social Security Number and Driver's License Number - If an individual's social security number must be
included in a document, only the last four digits of the number shall be used. An individual's Driver's License Number
shall not be used.

(ii) Names of Minor Children - If the involvement of a minor child must be mentioned, only the initials of
that child's name shall be used;

(iii) Financial Account Numbers - If financial account numbers are relevant, only the last four digits
of these numbers shall be used.

(10) Format of Documents:

(A) All electronically filed pleadings, documents, and other papers shall, to the extent practicable, be
formatted in accordance with the applicable rules governing formatting of paper pleadings. Additionally, each
electronically filed pleading and document shall include the case title, case number and the nature of the filing.

(B) Each electronically filed document shall also include the typed name, e-mail address, address and
telephone number of the attorney or pro se party filing such document. Attorneys shall include their Washington State
Bar number on all documents.

(C) Documents must be converted to a text-searchable PDF compatible with the latest version of Adobe Reader,
The computer file must not be password-protected, encrypted, or protected by rights management. Because scanning
creates larger file sizes with images of lesser quality, scanning must be avoided when possible. To the extent
possible, each text document must be converted directly into a PDF file using Adobe Acrobat, the word processing
program's PDF conversion utility, or another software program. Any scanned materials must be made searchable using
optical-character-recognition software, such as Adobe Acrobat.. In the event that proposed orders are submitted in a
case, the PDF of the proposed order must be generated directly from a word processing program.

(i) Any electronically filed document must be unalterable (such as sealed PDF), and be able to be printed
with the same contents and formats as if printed from its authoring program

a) The e-filing vendor is required to make each electronically filed document that is not infected by a
virus available for transmission to the Clerk immediately after successful receipt and virus checking of the document.

(D) In as much as technology changes, the maximum file size allowable is available identified in the
e-filing Implementation Schedule posted on the court website. If a document exceeds the maximum size allowed, the
filer will file multiple documents, each under the maximum file size. In such case, the user will be responsible for
dividing the document into appropriately sized parts and placing a cover page on each document providing the case
number, case title, and part number (i.e. 1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc...).

(E) Bulk filings of multiple cases or multiple documents combined into one PDF document shall not be
accepted. Documents with different case numbers must be filed individually in separate transactions. Filing of
individual documents within a case should be accepted in a single electronic filing transaction.

(F) Electronic documents containing links to material either within the filed document or external to the
filed document are for convenience purposes only. The external material behind the link is not considered part of the
filing or the basic record.

(G) A person who files a document electronically shall have the same responsibility as a person filing a
document in the conventional manner for ensuring that the document is complete, readable and properly filed.

(H) Documents not complying with the format specified by the applicable statute, or local rule, or standards
may be rejected.

(I) Nothing in this rule alters a party's obligation to serve documents on the other party.

(11) Filing of Exhibits:

(A) Text Documents: See Formatting of Documents above.

(B) Physical exhibits: Physical items for which a photograph may be substituted may be electronically
imaged and e-filed. Items not conducive to electronic filing, such as documents under seal and physical exhibits for
which an image will not suffice shall be filed in their physical form at the Clerk's Office or in the Courtroom, as
directed by order of the court and in conformity with Supreme Court "Electronic Filing Standards and Principles". The
Motion and Notice of Motion for permission to file any of these physical items may be done electronically.

(i) All photographic exhibits must be filed in JPEG, PNG, or TIFF formats.

(C) Audio exhibits: If an audio recording is part of the record, the audio file must be included as an
MPEG-1 Audio-Layer 3 file (usually referred to as .mp3). The preferred sampling rate for the file is 44.1 kHz and the
preferred bit rate for the audio file is 64 Kbits/second, though a court may request bit rates as high as
128 Kbits/second. The mp3 audio files must use a constant bit rate. The files must not be password protected,
encrypted, or protected by rights management. Each audio file must not exceed 100 MB. If the recording is too long to
fit in one file, it may be broken into multiple files.

(D) In the event a party has an audio exhibit in a non .mp3 format and which cannot be converted to that
format, upon approval of the Court the party may file such audio exhibit in formats supported by one of the following
media players if the original is natively supported by that player: Quick Time (Apple), VLC media player (VideoLAN
Organization), or Windows media player (Microsoft).If a video recording is part of the record, the video file must be
included as an MPEG-4 Part 14 file (usually referred to as .mp4). Data compression is encouraged; though the submitter
must assure that the video and audio content have sufficient quality. The files should not be password-protected,
encrypted, or protected by rights management. Each video file must not exceed 5 GB. If the recording is too long to fit
in one file, it may be broken into multiple files.

(i) In the event a party has a video exhibit in a non .mp4 format and which cannot be converted to that
format, upon approval of the Court the party may file such audio exhibit in formats supported by one of the following
media players if the original is natively supported by that player: Quick Time (Apple), VLC media player (VideoLAN
Organization), or Windows media player (Microsoft).

(E) Separator Pages: If an exhibit number is not on the exhibit image, there must be a page preceding the
image to show the exhibit number.

(12) Waiver of the Requirement to e-file for attorneys:

(A) If e-filing is mandatory and an attorney is unable to e-file documents, the attorney may request a
waiver from the court. The attorney must make a showing of good cause and explain why paper document(s) must be filed
in that particular case. The court will make waiver request forms available on the court website. The court will
consider each application and provide a written approval or denial to the attorney. Attorneys who 4 receive a waiver
shall file a copy of the waiver in each case in which they file documents. Attorneys who receive a waiver shall place
the words "Exempt from efiling per waiver filed on (date)" in the caption of all paper documents filed for the duration
of the waiver.

(B) Upon a showing of good cause the court may waive the requirement as to a specific document or documents
on a case by case basis.

(13) Non-Compliance with this Rule: If an attorney files a document in paper form and does not have an approved
waiver from e-filing, the court may assess a $15.00 fee against the attorney for each paper document filed.

(14) Character of e-filed items: Electronically filed court records have the same force and effect and are
subject to the same right of public access as are documents that are not e-filed.

(15) Time of Filing, Confirmation, and Rejection:

(A) Time of Filing

(i) A party whose filing is untimely as the result of a technical failure of the court's e-filing
application may seek appropriate relief from the court. The court shall consider its e-filing application to be subject
to a technical failure if the site is unable to accept filings, either continuously or intermittently, for more than
one hour after 10:00 a.m. on any court day. Known systems outages will be posted on the court website. Users are
responsible for monitoring the court website to be aware of regularly scheduled down time for maintenance.

(ii) Problems on the filer's end (such as phone line problems, problems with the filer's Internet Service
Provider, or hardware or software problems) will not constitute a technical failure under this rule, nor excuse an
untimely filing. A filer who cannot file a document electronically because of a problem on the filer's end should
explore other e-filing options. The filer's login and password will work on any computer that has internet access,
e.g., at the library, home computer, or in commercial business service centers.

(iii) Filing a document electronically does not alter filing deadlines.

(iv) Any document filed electronically shall be considered as filed with the Clerk of the Court upon review
and acceptance, and the transmission has been completed with the Clerk's electronic filing stamp.

a) If the electronic filing is not filed with the Clerk because of (1) an error in the transmission of the
document to the Vendor which was unknown to the sending party or (2) a failure to process the electronic filing when
received by the Vendor or the Court may upon satisfactory proof enter an order permitting the document to be
subsequently filed effective as of the date filing was first attempted.

b) In the case of a filing error, absent extraordinary circumstances, anyone prejudiced by the court's
order to accept a subsequent filing effective as of the date filing was first attempted, shall be entitled to an order
extending the date for any response, or the period within which any right, duty or
other act must be performed.

(v) The transmission date and time of transfer shall govern the electronic file mark. Pleadings received by
the clerk before midnight on a day the courthouse is open shall be deemed filed that day. If filed on a day the
courthouse is not open for business, the document will be deemed filed the next business day.

(16) Confirmation of Filing:

(A) Upon receipt by the Vendor, and submission of an electronic document to the Clerk, the Vendor shall
issue a confirmation to the Subscriber. The confirmation shall indicate the time and date of receipt, and serve as
proof that the document has been submitted to the Clerk. A Subscriber will receive e-mail notification from the Vendor
if a document is not accepted by the Clerk's office. In that event, the Subscriber may be required to re-file the
document to meet necessary filing requirements.

(B) In the absence of the court's confirmation of receipt and filing, there is no presumption that the court
received and filed the document. The filer is responsible for verifying that the court received and filed any document
that was submitted to the court electronically using the court's e-filing application.

(C) Each document reviewed and accepted for filing by the Clerk of Court shall receive an electronic file
stamp. The stamp shall be endorsed in the name of the Clerk by the deputy clerk accepting the filing, and shall include
the identification of the court, the official time and date of filing and contain the word "FILED". This file stamp
shall be merged with the electronic document and shall be visible when the document is printed and viewed on-line.
Electronic documents are not officially filed without the electronic filing stamp. Filings so endorsed shall have the
same force and effect as documents time stamped in the conventional manner.

(17) Authentication of Electronic Documents.

(A) Filers agree to protect the security of their passwords and immediately notify the court if they learn
that their password has been compromised. Filers may be subject to sanctions for failure to comply with this provision.

(B) Any document filed electronically, including all pleadings, motions, documents, etc., using a verified
user authentication shall be deemed to have been signed by the holder of the user authentication and shall bind the
signer and function as the signer's signature for any purpose, including CRLJ 11.

(i) Documents containing facsimile or typographical signatures may be filed electronically and shall be
deemed to have been signed in person by the individual.

(ii) When a document has been filed electronically, the official record is the electronic record of the
document as stored by the court, and the filing party is bound by the document as filed.

(iii) In the absence of a facsimile or typographical signature, any document electronically filed with a
user's identification and password is deemed to have been personally signed by the holder of the user identification
and password.

(iv) Original signatures of all non-electronic filers must be obtained before filing the document. The
document must indicate the identity of each non-registered signatory. The filing party must retain the original
document until one year after the date that the judgment has become final by the conclusion of direct review or the
expiration of the time for seeking such review.

(v) Where a Clerk is required to endorse a document, the typed name of the clerk shall be deemed to be the
clerk's signature on an electronic document.

(18) Collection of Fees:

(A) The e-filing of a document requiring payment of a statutory filing fee to the Clerk of the Court in
order to achieve valid filing status shall be filed electronically in the same manner as any other e-file document.

(B) Fees charged to e-filing Subscribers by the Vendor for Vendor services are solely the property of the
Vendor and are in addition to any statutory fees associated with statutory filing fees.

(d) Reserved by state rule.

(1) Reserved by state rule

(2) Reserved by state rule

(A-C) Reserved by state rule

(D) Law enforcement officer signatures on documents signed under penalty of perjury.

(i) Any document initiated by a law enforcement officer is presumed to have been signed when the officer
uses his or her user ID and password to electronically submit the document to a court or prosecutor through the
Statewide Electronic Collision & Traffic Online Records (SECTOR) application, the Law Enforcement Records Management
System (LERMS), the Justice Information Network Data Exchange, Automated Traffic Safety (ATS) AxsisTM or the local
secured system "Xpediter" used by the County of Spokane and City of Spokane. Unless otherwise specified, the signature
shall be presumed to have been made under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of Washington and on the date
and at the place set forth in the citation.

(E) Judicial Electronic Signatures:

(i) Judicial officers may sign orders and search warrants with a digital or electronic signature, as defined in
GR 30. In addition, documents may be signed by judicial officers using an electronic form that contains an electronic
copy of the judicial officer's signature so long as the form is saved only on a directory that is accessible only by
the judicial officers and so long as the electronic signature is protected so that it cannot be electronically copied.

(ii) The printed version of these documents shall constitute an original order and shall be placed in, and become
part of, the court or search warrant return file.

(iii) Nothing herein alters the ability of the judge to sign documents in person or delegate the affixing of
signatures by others if allowed by law or court rule.

(iv) This rule may be amended or supplemented during the year by general order.

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