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Frequently Asked Questions

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: What type of advice can the Clerk’s Office personnel give?

Q: What forms of payment are acceptable?

Q: Should discovery material be filed with the Clerk’s Office?

Q: How do I register a judgment from another district?

Q: How do I issue out-of-state deposition subpoenas?

Q: How do I retrieve a file from the Federal Records Center?

Q: How does an attorney obtain a Certificate of Good Standing?

Q: What is the procedure for gaining admission pro hac vice?

Q: What is the procedure for a Bill of Costs?

Q: What is the procedure for scheduling a disclosure proceeding?

Q: How to order a transcript?

Q: How do I file an emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) after Court business hours?

 

Q: What type of advice can the Clerk’s Office personnel give?

Clerk’s Office staff can provide procedural information such as:

- Instruction on how to execute a task (number of copies, use of forms)

- Provide information as to compliance with Court policy

Clerk’s Office staff cannot recommend a lawyer to you.

Clerk’s Office staff cannot give “legal advice” and therefore cannot:

- Explain the meaning of a specific rule

- Make an interpretation of a case law

- Explain the result of taking or not taking an action in a case

- Answer whether jurisdiction is proper in a case

- Answer whether a complaint properly presents a claim

Q: What forms of payment are acceptable?

The Clerk’s Office accepts payments by cash, money order, check and Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express credit cards are accepted. We do not accept credit card payments for posting bail. Checks should be made payable to: Clerk, US District Court.

Q: Should discovery material be filed with the Clerk’s Office?

No. Pursuant to Local Rule 5(b), discovery material, including initial disclosures made under Fed. R. Civ. P. 26(a) (1)-(3), shall not be filed except when needed in a particular pretrial or trial proceedings or upon order of the Court.

Q: How do I register a judgment from another district?

Complete a Certificate of Judgment, form AO451, and have it certified by the district court where the case originated. File the Certificate of Judgment, together with a certified copy of the judgment and a $ 47.00 filing fee. It will be assigned a new miscellaneous case number.

Q: How do I issue out-of-state deposition subpoenas?

A subpoena shall be issued out of the district court where the case is pending – the top portion of the subpoena should reflect the name of the district where the case is pending. The name and civil number of the case should be the same as the name and number where the case is actually pending. Counsel should sign and issue the subpoena as an officer of the Court.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 45 does not require that completed subpoenas be issued by the Clerk’s Office nor used under the seal of the Court. Attorneys are authorized to issue subpoenas in the name of any court in which they are authorized to practice, and in the case of a deposition or production subpoena taking place in another district, in the name of the court where the case is pending. It is not required that an attorney be a member of the bar in the district where the subpoena is being served as long as the attorney is authorized to practice in the district where the primary action is pending.

Q: How do I retrieve a file from the Federal Records Center?

Closed files are archived and shipped to the National Archives and Records Administration located at 380 Trapelo Road, in Waltham, Massachusetts. Files are stored in specific locations identified with an accession number and a box number.

A request for an archived file can be made with the Clerk’s Office in writing, together with a retrieval fee of $64.00. NARA will generally send a closed file to the Clerk’s Office within five to seven days of receipt of the retrieval request. You will be contacted when the file has been received, which will be kept in the Clerk’s Office for one week.

Alternatively, records may be reviewed on site at the Waltham facility or copies of case documents may be mailed or faxed from NARA directly to the requestor. (Prior to calling NARA (781-663-0130), the requestor must obtain from the Clerk’s Office the case file name and number, the accession number and the box location number).

Q: How does an attorney obtain a Certificate of Good Standing?

A request for a Certificate of Good Standing can be made to any member of the Clerk’s Office staff. The fee is $20.00.

Q: What is the procedure for gaining admission pro hac vice?

Visiting counsel should not file a motion to appear pro hac vice in order to practice in this court. Local Rule 83.1 (c)(1)provides that visiting counsel need only to certify that he/she is admitted to practice in another federal court or the highest court of any State and that he/she is not currently under any order of disbarment, suspension or any other discipline. Any such visiting counsel must have at all time associated with him/her a member of the bar of this Court. Visiting attorneys who will appear pro hac vice in the district court must e-file a "certification for admission pro hac vice" form and pay the Clerk a fee in the amount of $100.00.

Once a Pro Hac Vice Certificate has been filed with the Court, if the attorney does not already have e-filing rights in the District of Maine, he/she must submit an e-filing request via pacer at www.pacer.uscourts.gov.

Q: What is the procedure for a Bill of Costs?

The prevailing party can seek reimbursement for those costs that are taxable under Title 28 U.S.C. Section 1920 by filing a completed bill of cost form (which is available on the court’s web page), together with supporting memorandum and documentation, within 30 days of the expiration of the time for filing a timely appeal if no notice of appeal has been filed or within 30 days of the filing of the appellate mandate providing for the final disposition of any appeal to the Court of Appeals. Any response or objection shall be filed within 21 days after the filing of the Bill of Costs. The Clerk will review the filings and issue an Order on Bill of Costs. See Local Rule 54.3. Bill of Cost Form

Q: What is the procedure for scheduling a disclosure proceeding?

Pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 69(a), the process to enforce a money judgment must be in accordance with the procedures set forth in Title 14 Maine Revised Statutes Annotated sections 3120-3163. A disclosure hearing, usually held before a magistrate judge, is conducted to determine if there are any assets of the judgment debtor that can be taken to satisfy the judgment.Counsel for the judgment creditor must contact the Clerk’s Office and obtain a date for the disclosure hearing and must then prepare a disclosure subpoena for service. Service of the disclosure subpoena on the judgment debtor must be made at least 10 days prior to the disclosure hearing.

Q: How to order a transcript?

The party ordering a transcript should contact the court reporter directly to make arrangements for a transcript. Information about our Court Reporters can be found on our website at http://www.med.uscourts.gov/court-reporters-directory, or you may contact the Clerk’s Office to find out who the court reporter was who transcribed the proceeding, and obtain the court reporter’s phone number.

Q: How do I file an emergency Motion for Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) after Court business hours?

If the TRO needs immediate attention and is being filed in an existing case then e-file the Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and send an email to usdc_emergency@med.uscourts.gov or call a member of Clerk’s Office listed at this link http://www.med.uscourts.gov/emergency-contact-info . 

If the Motion for TRO is being submitted with a new case filing, then email the new case filing along with the Motion for TRO to MaineECFIntake@med.uscourts.gov.  You should then call a member of the Clerk’s Office listed at this link http://www.med.uscourts.gov/emergency-contact-info or email usdc_emergency@med.uscourts.gov to alert the Clerk’s Office of your filing.