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FAQs
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Why am I getting email Notices of Electronic Filing for a case in which I (the attorney) am not a participant?
There are a few reasons:
1) You may be "watching" the case. If you wish to no longer receive emails on cases listed, simply delete the case number listed in your ECF Account and submit your changes.
2) You may be listed as a secondary on someone else's account. See the bottom of the email you received to see if you are listed under someone else's name.
3) You may be listed as a participant on a consolidated or related case.
4) Any combination of the above.
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Where can I find a list of frequently used addresses for governmental agencies?
A listing of addresses for governmental agencies is available through our local rules if needed for noticing purposes. You can access them through the court's website. They are listed under Appendix C of the Local Rules.
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Our email was down yesterday, and we missed any electronic filing notices that were sent out. Can you resend them?
We do not have the capability to resend the automatic email notifications that are sent on cases in which you are involved. To prevent this problem from reoccurring, add a secondary email address to your ECF account with an ISP provider other than your primary provider (for example, an internet-based email domain). This will allow you to continue to receive electronic notices while the primary email address is being restored.
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I am no longer involved in an adversary case as an attorney, but I continue to receive electronic notices for the main case. How do I make them stop?
ECF gives you the option to receive electronic notices for adversary cases only and not their respective lead cases.
Log into ECF. Under the Utilities menu select Maintain Your ECF Account. When the main screen appears, click the Email Information button located at the bottom of the screen. Halfway down the page you will see a section related to noticing for adversary proceedings. Select the second radio that reads Send notices for adversary proceedings in which I am directly involved but not for their related bankruptcy cases and click Return to Account Screen. The final step is to click Submit in order for the system to accept your changes and a second Submit button will complete the update.
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Can an attorney receive emails regarding cases in which the attorney is not a participant?
Yes they can, but will still be charged document fees from PACER. This is called “watching” a case. To be a watcher:
1) Log in to ECF with your ECF login (not your PACER login)
2) Click on Utilities, then Maintain Your ECF Account
3) At the bottom of the main screen, click on the Email Information button
4) Check the box to Send notices in these additional cases, then add the case numbers in the format YY-NNNNN for each case desired.
5) After you have entered all the case numbers you want to watch, choose the tab that says 'Return to Account Screen." Then click on "Submit" to ensure your changes are recorded.
NOTE: The system will show “watchers” as receiving the emails for the notices. They will show up on the NEF under the section ”Notice will be electronically mailed to” and also on the “Report: E-mail Info” for a case.
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Can I receive ECF notifications at more than one email address?
Yes you can. Log in to CM/ECF. Click on Utilities then select Maintain Your ECF Account. Click the Email Information button. You may enter additional email addresses in the second box provided, in addition to your primary email address. Make sure that you separate each email address with a comma and a space. Then check the secondary email addresses box in the section that reads, "Send the Notices Specified Below." Click Return to Account screen’, then Submit to save your changes.
Keep in mind that the secondary email address(es) will receive emails for every case that the primary email does, and cannot be set up to only receive emails on certain cases. The "free look" for each document will only be available to one email address.
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How can I change my ECF email address?
Log in to CM/ECF, click on ‘Utilities’, then select ‘Maintain Your ECF Account’ from the menu. Click the Email information button, and enter your new email address in the Primary e-mail address box. Click Return to Account screen, then Submit to save your changes.
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How do I remove myself from the mailing list on a particular case?
You should follow the same process for withdrawing from an ECF case as you would for a case filed prior to the implementation of ECF. Typically, this includes a Motion to Withdraw, which will have to be approved by the Court. If a new attorney within the same firm is representing a party, then a Notice of New Lead Counsel Within Firm is required.
If your client's involvement in a case has ended and you no longer wish to receive electronic notices, then you can also file a Notice of Termination of Electronic Notices or written documentation indicating you no longer wish to receive electronic notices for that particular case.
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How can I change my address in the ECF system?
Log in to CM/ECF, click on ‘Utilities’, then select ‘Maintain Your ECF Account’ from the menu. You may update your address information from this screen, and then click ‘Submit’ to process and save your changes. You will still need to take all appropriate actions required under the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure and any Local Rules regarding a change of address.
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Why am I not receiving emails from the ECF system?
There are a few reasons that you may not be receiving emails from the ECF system:
Your email box may be blocked or locked. Perhaps your email box is full (or was full when the email was sent) or you are overdue on paying any fees required for you to access the internet or your email, so your provider may have restricted your email in some way. These emails bounce back to the court and will not be re-sent.
Your email address could not be found on the internet, or by your email server. We get many bounces which are the result of email servers being down/offline/configured wrong/etc., or when the email server does not recognize the recipient's address. These emails bounce back and will not be re-sent.
Invalid or outdated email address. You may have moved firms, changed email addresses, etc. Your registration is yours (not the firm's) and you are required to keep your contact information current and accurate. These emails bounce back and will not be re-sent.
Failing to associate yourself with a party in a case when filing a document can also prevent you from receiving ECF notices. When you file a document in a case for the first time, the ECF system will not recognize your login and prompt you to check a box to make an association between you and the party you are filing on behalf of.
"Spam" or junk/bulk email protection may be blocking or filtering the ECF emails due to how the emails are being addressed. All ECF emails have common characteristics. Quite often these emails get filtered to a protected email folder on your email server which can only be accessed by the administrator on the system, or may be automatically deleted. These emails may or may not bounce back (usually they do not) and will not be re-sent.
This last one can be a major problem since some email spam protection blocks emails which are not sent specifically TO: the recipient. Since ECF by definition sends "bulk" email, ECF emails may be blocked and there is nothing that the court can do about it on our end.
The good news however is that all email spam protection allows for what is commonly called a "White List". White Lists are email addresses which are allowed to come through despite any other email filtering or protection. ("Black Lists" in contrasts are never allowed.)
ECF highly recommends that the email address,
BKECF_LiveDB@txnb.uscourts.gov be added to your White Lists, or even better, add the wild-card: *uscourts.gov, so that any email from any U.S. Court entity can get through. This must be done by your email systems administrator.