United States District Court

Northern District Of Illinois

Local Rules

LR5.5. Proof of Service

(a) General. Proof of service of all papers required or permitted to be served shall, unless some other method is expressly required by these rules or the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, be made in the following manner:

(1) if the person serving the papers is an attorney of record in the case, by certificate;

(2) if the person serving the papers is not an attorney of record in the case, by affidavit, or by written acknowledgment of service, or by any other proof satisfactory to the court;.

(3) if the case is one for which the General Order on Electronic Case Filing applies, in the manner set forth in that General Order under the heading entitled "Service of Documents by Electronic Means".

(b) Certificate of Service. Each document other than one filed ex parte shall be accompanied by a certificate of service indicating the date and manner of services and a statement that copies of documents required to be served by Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(a) have been served. Where the service was by FAX, the certificate shall be accompanied by a copy of the transaction statement produced by the FAX machine. Such transaction statement shall include the date and time of service, the telephone number to which the documents were transmitted, and an acknowledgment from the receiving FAX machine that the transmission was received or, in the event that the receiving FAX machine did not produce the acknowledgment to the transmitting FAX machine, an affidavit or, if by an attorney, a certificate setting forth the date and time of service and telephone number to which documents were transmitted.

(c) Filing by FAX Not Permitted. Documents to be filed with the court may not be transmitted to the court by FAX. The only means of filing documents with the court by electronic means is in accordance with LR 5.2(a) and the General Order on Electronic Case Filing or other similar order.

(d) Ex Parte Motion. A motion for an ex parte order shall be accompanied by an affidavit showing cause therefor and stating whether or not a previous application for similar relief has been made.