Electronic civil case opening allows attorneys to file new civil and miscellaneous cases via CM/ECF, rather than initiating new cases in paper form at the Clerk’s Office. Attorneys interested should consider the following requirements:

• Participating attorneys must be registered for electronic filing via CM/ECF and the must be admitted to practice in the Southern District of Indiana.
• The filing of new civil complaints and notices of removal via CM/ECF includes electronic payment of the $405 filing fee via Pay.gov. Payment may be submitted via either ACH (checking/savings account) or credit card transaction.

Attorney Case Opening Procedures & References:

• Print and review the   Electronic Civil Case Opening Instructions before opening a new case electronically, to avoid common case opening errors.

• The   Party Name Guide provides guidance and tips for entering party names into the CM/ECF database.

• Consult the   Case Opening Checklist before logging in to CM/ECF to open a new case

• When opening a new civil case electronically, prepare all case initiating documents and complete a Civil Cover Sheet before starting the case opening process.

• Proposed summons must be filed as an attachment to the Complaint.  For cases with mutliple defendants, in which more than one summons is needed, all summons documents should be converted into a single PDF file.     
  Summons in a Civil Action             Summons in a Civil Action (Multi-Party)

• The   Cause of Action Codes and Nature of Suit Codes reference guides will assist in determining which code to enter on the civil cover sheet and in CM/ECF.