(A) "Fax" means to transmit and reproduce a facsimile of an original document by electronic means.

   (B) Until May 1, 2024, unless advanced or extended by the Nebraska Supreme Court, every court in the State of Nebraska shall accept for filing by a non-attorney a fax transmission of any pleading, motion, or other document, except for briefs in the appellate courts, subject to prepayment of statutory filing fees. A party who is represented by a Nebraska attorney cannot utilize fax filing, and the party shall file all documents through the attorney as provided by Neb. Ct. R. § 2-201 et seq.

   (C) Prohibition by Nebraska attorneys; limited exception. The use of fax machines by Nebraska attorneys for filing any document in any Nebraska court is prohibited except as allowed in the Nebraska Workers' Compensation Court rules and as allowed by Neb. Ct. R. § 2-213(C) governing extended system unavailability.

Rule 1 amended March 10, 1993; amended September 18, 1996. Renumbered and codified as § 6-601, effective July 18, 2008; § 6-601 amended June 9, 2021, effective January 1, 2022; § 6-601 amended April 13, 2022.

   All fax machines shall use plain paper and shall meet standard minimum CCITT Group III requirements. "CCITT" means Consultative Committee for International Telephone and Telegraph. "Group III" is a standard letter-size document that takes approximately 1 minute for transmission. The fax machine shall place the date and time of receipt on the transmission received.

   A fax machine in the judicial system shall be used solely for court business. A court may authorize use of fax equipment by other governmental offices or agencies so long as such use does not interfere with the conduct of court business.

   A fax transmission for filing shall be preceded by an attached uniform cover sheet approved by the Supreme Court of Nebraska and found as Appendix 1. The fax cover sheet shall contain the sender's full name, address, telephone number, and fax number. The cover sheet shall specify the number of pages in the transmission. The sender's information supplied on the fax cover sheet shall be typed or clearly printed.

§ 6-604 amended April 13, 2022.

   A plain-paper original transmission shall constitute a filing. The sender shall retain the original document transmitted by fax for a period not less than the maximum allowable time to complete the appellate process, unless otherwise directed by a court.

   Each transmission shall be limited to 10 pages, excluding the cover sheet. Additional pages may be permitted with prior approval of the clerk at the receiving court. Each transmitted page shall bear its sequential number in the transmission, e.g., "1 of 10," "2 of 10," etc.

   If a filing requires an original and multiple copies of the original, and when the aggregate number of pages in the original and multiple copies exceeds the page limit specified in § 6-606, only the original, which does not exceed the specified page limit, shall be filed by fax transmission. The required multiple copies of the original shall be delivered to the clerk of the receiving court within five days after fax transmission of the original. Delivery of multiple copies to the clerk at the receiving court within the five-day period constitutes filing the multiple copies on the date that the original fax-transmitted document was filed in the receiving court.

 Rule 8 amended September 18, 1996. Renumbered and codified as § 6-608, effective July 18, 2008; amended June 8, 2011; deleted March 21, 2018.

§ 6-609 amended June 8, 2011; deleted March 21, 2018.

   The sender bears all risk in a fax transmission. Electronic transmission of a document by means of a fax machine does not constitute filing; filing is complete only after the receiving clerk's acceptance for filing in compliance with applicable statutes and these rules. If a receiving clerk determines that there has been an error in transmission, such as failure to complete the cover sheet for a transmission or an interruption in the sequence of pages transmitted, the clerk shall, as soon as practical, fax to the sender notice specifying the error preventing acceptability for filing. Any fax transmission containing an error that prevents filing may be disregarded by a clerk, but shall be retained for 10 days and thereafter disposed of unless within 10 days of the fax transmission the sender shall have requested judicial review of the rejection for filing. If a clerk rejects a filing in a pending proceeding, the clerk's rejection shall be noted on the docket of the court in which the proceeding is pending. A clerk is not required to acknowledge that a fax transmission has been received or accepted for filing. A clerk receiving a transmission has no duty to serve on a party a copy of the faxed transmission.

   A person seeking to file a signed document may fax a copy of the original signed document. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a signature reproduced on a fax transmission is an original signature for the purpose of the fax filing only. Anyone who files a signed document by fax represents that the original signed document is physically in his or her possession or control.

   Only as specifically authorized by the issuing judge, fax transmission may be used for the issuance of orders or warrants, including, but not limited to:

   (A) an arrest or search warrant;

   (B) release or detention of a defendant in custody for a criminal proceeding;

   (C) an order or warrant for placing a juvenile in custody or for release or detention of a person subject to the Nebraska Juvenile Code;

   (D) a temporary restraining order or protection order; and

   (E) an order in a domestic relations case.

   For all procedural and statutory purposes, a faxed document shall have the same force and effect as the original document issued by a court.

§ 6-612 amended June 9, 2021, effective January 1, 2022; § 6-612 amended April 13, 2022.

   Filing by fax is allowed during the normal business hours of the receiving court. Unless prior permission is received from the clerk at the receiving court, any fax transmission received after normal business hours shall be deemed to be filed on the next business day. The time at which a document shall be deemed to be received is when the last page of the fax-transmitted document is received by the recipient clerk.

   A lawyer who is willing to accept service of papers by fax by a non-attorney shall so indicate by including his or her fax machine telephone number, designated as a "fax number," as part of the lawyer's name, address, and telephone number on a document filed in an action.

§ 6-614 amended April 13, 2022.

   Neither the Nebraska Court of Appeals nor the Supreme Court of Nebraska will accept briefs for filing by fax transmission.

Adopted January 13, 1993.