Home Commercial and Federal Litigation Home Notice of New Rules

Effective June 15, 2008, all new Commercial Division cases in all Division Parts shall be electronically filed through the New York State Courts Electronic Filing System ("NYSCEF"). Specifically, in New York County, all Commercial Division cases should be commenced electronically, and all cases in which a Request for Judicial Intervention ("RJI") is sought after June 15, 2008 should be electronically filed. Furthermore, Justices in all Division Parts may request that Division cases that were previously filed in hard copy format be converted to electronic filing status; in such instances, counsel will be informed either by the Justice or the E-Filing Office.   In order to electronically file documents, attorneys will need to register for IDs and passwords, which may be done by contacting the E-Filing Office at 646-386-3610 or newyorkef@courts.state.ny.us.

Pursuant to the electronic filing rules (Uniform Rule section 202.5-b), courtesy hard copies must be submitted in electronically filed cases and beginning on June 15, 2008, the courtesy copy must include the following legend (indicating the number of the document as shown in the e-filed docket of the case in NYSCEF): COURTESY COPY. THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN E-FILED AS DOCUMENT NO. __.  Courtesy copies will be discarded by court staff upon the completion of judicial action, unless counsel states on the first page that "COUNSEL WILL RETRIEVE THIS COPY AND REQUESTS RETENTION," in which case the courtesy copy will be retained in the Motion Support Office Courtroom(Room 130) for two weeks.

Please note that although electronic filing is not mandatory, it is expected that attorneys will cooperate with the Commercial Division Justices in their effort to improve the efficiency of court operations and to bring the courthouse into the age of advanced technology. If an attorney wishes not to participate in electronic filing in a particular action, he or she shall address the subject with the Division Justice assigned to the action and all other parties at a conference or as otherwise directed by the Justice. The E-Filing Office of the Commercial Division, New York County, is located in Room 119 of the New York County Courthouse, 60 Centre Street, Manhattan. The office offers each week a two-hour training course in the NYSCEF electronic filing program at no charge, for which two CLE credits are awarded. All interested attorneys and staff are encouraged to attend a training course.

Beginning later this year, pursuant to procedures that will be announced, in all Commercial Division cases that are not electronically filed, counsel submitting motion papers, including papers on motions brought on by order to show cause, shall submit with the papers a computer diskette bearing an exact copy of the papers in PDF format.  The papers will be included in the Supreme Court Records On-Line Library ("SCROLL") and will be available on the general website of the Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County. In addition, on June 15, 2008, the new rules issued by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Program of the Commercial Division become effective. Under the new rules, mediation remains mandatory. The initial mediation session(s)shall last for four hours and are free of charge; thereafter, if the parties find it beneficial to continue mediation, the Commercial Division mediator must be compensated as set forth in the ADR Rules.

Further information, including a copy of the applicable electronic filing procedures and ADR rules, is available in the New York County section of the website of the Commercial Division, at www.nycourts.gov/comdiv.