P.N. No. 2020-03

Date Issued: September 23, 2020
Rule(s) Affected: 4.02A(2) and (3)
Effective Date: upon publication

The following Practice Note is published pursuant to Rule 4.04 of the Rules of the Supreme Court, 1986.

FILING DOCUMENTS BY EMAIL

Background and Purpose

1. This document sets out the limited circumstances in which the Registry of the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador will accept documents filed by email and the appropriate process for filing documents in this manner.

Practice Note

2. The Registry of the Supreme Court will accept documents by email in the following two circumstances:

1. The Registry will, pursuant to rule 4.02A(3), conditionally accept documents filed by a party where the circumstances in rule 4.02A(2) apply. This means that the document may be filed where it is intended to initiate a proceeding or a claim, the failure to file it on that date may result in the loss of a substantive right (because, for example, a limitation period would expire), and these two facts have been brought to the attention of the Registrar upon filing. The filing will be accepted on the condition that the original, and payment of any prescribed fee, will be received by the Court within 10 business days of the email filing.
2. The Registry will accept documents filed by email where a judge has directed or ordered a party to file the document in this manner.

3. Where filing by email is permitted, the document should be saved as a scanned version of the original document and emailed.

4. Where a document is filed by email in reliance on rule 4.02A(2):

1. The person filing the document must, in the body of the email, indicate how the circumstances set out in that rule have been met. As an example, the person might indicate:
   This statement of claim is being filed by email in order to avoid the expiration of a limitation period. The limitation period in question expires (or may potentially expire) on [date], and I am unable to ensure that the original will arrive at the Court by that time.
2. The Registrar will file a printed copy of the document in the court file. The printed copy will have the following inscribed on the face of the document:
   Conditionally filed by email on [date].
3. The person filing the document must, as soon as possible, file the original of the document and pay any prescribed fee for filing the document at that time. If the original and payment are not received within 10 business days of the conditional filing date, the document will be struck from the court file.
4. The original, when filed within the time limit set out in paragraph 4c, will be marked as having been filed on the date that the document was received by email.

5. Where a document is being filed by email pursuant to a direction or order of a judge, the person filing the document should, in the body of the email, indicate the name of the judge that permitted filing in this manner and the date upon which the direction or order was provided.

Practice Note – Filing Documents Electronically