Contents

Password Security Enhancement 2

User Interface Enhancements. 2

Query. 3

Reports. 5

Miscellaneous. 6

E-Orders. 7

Adversary Case Opening. 8

Claims/Creditors. 8

Rule 3002.1 Changes. 9

Noticing. 10

Utilities. 10

CM/ECF version 4.1 and 4.2

Summary of New Features

Password Security Enhancement

Stronger Password Requirements

Password security has been improved. All CM/ECF passwords must be a minimum of 8 characters, and must include both upper and lower case alphabetic characters and at least one digit or special character [e.g., 0-9,@,#,$,%,&,*,!,+,:]. This change is not optional and affects every CM/ECF user.

The first time a user logins in after the court has implemented release 4.2, a message will be displayed asking the user to change their password to meet the new standards. Click the link in the message. This will allow the user to change his/her password at that time.

Once your password has been changed, any attempts to login with an invalid password will prevent you from gaining access to the system. After five invalid attempts, you will receive a message instructing you to contact the helpdesk for assistance.

User Interface Enhancements

Time selection icon

On screens allowing a time selection, the time field now includes an icon to populate the time from a graphic. When clicked, the icon displays a clock graphic:

Move the cursor around the clock’s face to select a time; the time selection is displayed in the box. The lighter shading indicates an assumed AM time, and the darker shading indicates default PM. This is also populated in the box, and can be changed manually.

Query

When a name search is made, additional information is now displayed on the results page to allow a user to select the correct case.

For each name result, a row of information is displayed to the screen for each case in which that person is involved.

· Previously, two characters of the last name were required for a name search on the Query screen, making it impossible for a user to search for a person with a single-character last name. Now, if a single character is entered into the last name field, it is evaluated for exact name matches only; a message appears on the screen in these cases informing the user that only exact matches will be found.

· There was previously no way for internet users to view a document without first viewing the docket report. Now, the “View Document” link allows you to enter a document number in the case currently being viewed, and view the document directly. If multiple documents are associated with a document number, the Document Selection Menu appears, from which you can choose the desired document.

· A warning message has been added to the Query search screen, indicating that there is no 30-page PACER billing cap on the results page.

· On the “Associated Cases” screen, a new “Other Filings by Same Debtor(s) section has been added. It displays all cases that share a debtor or joint debtor with the case currently being viewed.

· Tracking Filing Fee Balance

In previous releases, there was no way to track the balance due when a filing fee was paid in installments. Now, for pending cases, the outstanding filing fee balance is tracked in CM/ECF.

A new “Filing Fee” selection is available from the main Query output screen. For bankruptcy cases, this option displays a screen listing the filing fee amount, details on any payments that have been made, and the outstanding balance due. An additional section displays any related adversary proceedings with deferred filing fees.

For adversary and miscellaneous proceedings, the “Filing Fee” query displays the case opening fee and the balance due (if filing fee was deferred).

· In the “History/Documents” query, The “Private Event” column is now titled “Entry Restrictions”, to accommodate the expanded restriction options for individual events.

Reports

Cases Report

· An option to filter the report by attorney name or Bar ID now appears on the selection screen. When a name is entered, a list of matching attorney names is displayed, of which you may select one or more. Check boxes allow you to search for attorneys by party role: debtors, plaintiffs, defendants, creditors, or all. Alternatively, you can choose to view only cases with pro se filers.

· The report is now limited to a range of 31 days. This prevents internet users from unintentionally requesting a large data set, which would result in an unnecessarily large PACER fee.

· For users who do not have access to sealed cases, limited sealed case information is displayed on the Cases report. This report displays the case number, entered and filed dates, office, and generic case title text according to case type: “SEALED” for bankruptcy cases, “SEALED v.SEALED” for adversary and miscellaneous proceedings. Note that the fields displayed are the only fields by which sealed cases may be filtered; if other search filters are used (e.g., chapter, judge) those filters will not affect which sealed cases appear on the report.

Claims Activity

· For any closed case, the case closed date is displayed next to the case number on the report output.

Docket Report

· Previously, each party’s alias was printed on two lines on the Docket Report; alias type on the first line, and name on the second line. Each alias record is now printed on one line.

· The “Include headers…” check box now defaults to checked; you no longer need to check the box each time you run the report to see PDF footers on documents.

· The county of residence is now displayed along with the address information on the report output for debtors and joint debtors.

· All attorney email addresses displayed on the Docket Report are now hyperlinks. Clicking on the hyperlinked email address opens the user’s default email program, and begins a new email to the selected address.

· A “Show Associated Cases” hyperlink previously appeared on the Docket Report output for all cases; the hyperlink leads to the Associated Cases query page. This feature has been enhanced to appear only when the case being viewed has an active association.

Miscellaneous

Enter key instead of mouse click—For users who wish to use the keyboard rather

than the mouse, pressing the Enter key now gives the same result as clicking the

button that submits the screen. Pressing the space bar also works if the focus is

on the button that submits the screen.

E-Orders

E-orders have additional Order types: Hearing Held and Hearing Scheduled. The

Order type Urgent has been replaced by Expedited. In addition, attachments

may now be included in uploading a proposed order.

The Order Query report displays the status of orders entered through the new

order filing module. The report may be run for a specific case or by date range;

additional check boxes allow filtering by order status. The report provides status

information, as well as hyperlinks to the case docket and to the order document.

Adversary Case Opening

· Previously, an attorney opening an adversary case was prompted to create an association with the plaintiff in the case. Now the attorney for the plaintiff opening the case will automatically be associated with the plaintiff. A “Counsel for” selection option appears (if the adversary proceeding is not a complaint) to allow the attorney to indicate which party he/she represent: if the default “Plaintiff” is selected, the filing attorney is automatically associated with the plaintiff; if “Defendant” is selected, the filer may make the attorney association during docketing.

Claims/Creditors

· Proof of Claim notices/receipts previously did not show the types of claim amounts requested. Now the amounts provided are as follows: Amount Claimed, Amount Secured, and Amount Priority.

· The “File another claim” hyperlink was previously displayed at the bottom of the Proof of Claim receipt. Now the hyperlink has been moved to the top of the receipt for easier access.

· The Proof of Claim entry screen text and formatting have been modified to match the B10 form. Additionally, the amount claimed totals are no longer calculated. Instead, the “Amount claimed fields constitute the totals of the various amounts claimed; the user enters the totals in these fields, and no additional total is calculated.

Rule 3002.1 Changes

New Rule 3002.1 requirements, which address certain claims in chapter 13 cases, go into effect on December 1, 2011. To comply with the rule, CM/ECF has been modified to allow a creditor to file the “Notice of Mortgage Payment Changes” the “Notice of Postpetition Fees, Expenses and Charges,” and the “Response to Notice of Final Cure Payment” as a supplement to the holder’s proof of claim. Several areas of CM/ECF are affected by this change, as described below.

Claim Action events

There are three new selections on the Bankruptcy Events menu which allow the supplemental information to be filed. When docketed, these events appear in the history section of the Claims Register, and no document number is assigned.

· A “Notice of Mortgage Payment Changes” event allows the claim holder to notify appropriate case participants when a change in payment amount occurs.

· A “ Notice of Postpetition Fees, Expenses, and Charges” event includes the claim holder’s record of fees incurred by the case that the holder assets are recoverable against the debtor.

· A “ Response to Notice of Final Cure Payment” allows the trustee or debtor to notify case participants that the debtor has completed all payments under the plan.

Claims Register

· When any of the above events are docketed, they are displayed on the History section of the Claims Register for their associated claims.

Note: Because no document number is associated with the event, the word “doc” rather than document number) appears as a link to the document. The image above from the Claims Register highlights an entry that has no document number.

These docket entries are not displayed on the Docket Report, so the Notice of Electronic Filing information cannot be viewed through the application. Instead, the NEF information must be accessed through the email notice sent at the time of the filing.

Noticing

· The BNC Certificate of Notice now includes all entities selected as form recipients and all entities who received a Notice of Electronic filing through CM/ECF, along with the date of electronic notification and the entity’s name and email address. Additionally, the BNC file now contains and email address (of the debtor’s attorney, or of the debtor if pro se), so that the BNC may email the bypass list.

· The title of the BNC PDF certificate has been changed to “Imaged Certificate of Notice”; previously, the document’s PDF header displayed the old title, “Imaged Certificate of Service”. For documents entered after CM/ECF version 4 is installed, the PDF header will match the new title.

Utilities

Change Your Password

This utility allows you to modify your CM/ECF password. You will need to choose a password that meets the security criteria, then re-enter the password to verify.

Internet Payments Due

Previously, when an internet payment was made, all fees incurred up to the time

of payment had to be paid at once. Now you choose to pay some or all of the

fees in a given transaction.

On the “Internet Payments Due” screen, all outstanding fees are displayed,

along with a check box for each fee. To select the fees to pay, the user should

check the boxes next to the desired fees, then click the Next button.

The next screen displays a summary of the selected fees, along with a Pay Now

button. Clicking this button opens a panel to allow payment.