2010-20: Filing a Bankruptcy Case in CM-ECF Without a Petition (superceded by Clerk's Notice 2011-3)

This clerk's notice is superceded by Clerk's Notice 2011-3 from June 10, 2011. 

On occasion, the Clerk’s Office receives new case filings via CM-ECF that are fundamentally defective because the filings do not have a valid petition. The attorney filer proceeds through the case opening steps in CM-ECF (e.g., entering debtor information in the system, submitting a PDF document and then filing subsequent documents) without uploading a valid petition for the case. This occurs when an attorney (a) uploads a document that is not a petition (for example, a signature page alone), (b) uploads a petition that belongs to a different debtor (for example, John Smith’s petition is uploaded with Jane Doe’s case) or (c) does not file the debtor’s signature page.

Pursuant to 11 U.S.C. Section 301(a), a bankruptcy case is commenced by filing a petition with the bankruptcy court. The judges have advised the Clerk of Court that new case submissions received via CM-ECF without a proper petition or signature page are to be closed immediately (not dismissed) – the result being no bankruptcy case has been commenced. The Clerk’s Office will mail a notice to the debtor, email the notice to the debtor’s attorney and will call the debtor’s attorney by telephone to advise the attorney of this critical problem. To rectify the filing error, a new case needs to be filed in order to proceed with the debtor’s bankruptcy case. The date of commencement of the case will be the date when the new case is filed with a valid petition.

If a filing fee has already been paid for the defective filing and a refund of the fee is sought, the filer has the option of filing a motion (in the closed case) requesting a refund and submitting a proposed order granting the motion. Judicial Conference policy prohibits the Clerk from processing such a refund without a Court order.

Attorneys and any support staff authorized to electronically file on an attorney’s behalf are highly encouraged to take the extra time to verify that the PDF files uploaded to the system contain the intended content, particularly the petition and signature page, prior to submitting the document to the CM-ECF system. Erroneous filings are the responsibility of the filer. That responsibility does not change if the Clerk’s Office is unable to reach the filer by telephone or if the filer has an issue receiving email notification that the case was closed due to the error.