No person shall remove any case file from the clerk's office, except that any civil case file may be checked out by permission of the judge or clerk. No person other than a member of the Nebraska State Bar Association or a registered abstractor shall be permitted to check out a file without the special permission of the judge.

   A receipt shall be signed for each file. Each file shall be returned within 5 days, or such lesser time required by the judge or clerk, and in any event no later than 1 day prior to any hearing concerning the file. Failure to return a file as required by the rule shall result in immediate suspension of check out privileges. 

   This rule does not apply to the judge or his designate.