The Electronic Document Submission System (EDSS) is available for parties who are not represented by an attorney. Such parties may use this service to submit documents for filing with the Court. The Pro Se Unit reviews all documents submitted through the EDSS for compliance with Federal and Local Rules prior to filing them in the record. In most instances, documents will be processed within 1-2 business days of receipt. New case filings will not receive a case number until they have been processed. The date the document was received will be the filed date. A document must be received (i.e., the submission process completed in full) by 11:59 p.m. to be filed on that day’s date.
For all emergency filings, filing of sensitive documents, and general questions, please contact the Pro Se Unit at (504) 589-7751 or in person in the intake area of Room C-151 of the Clerk’s Office at 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130. The Pro Se Unit will not respond to any correspondence sent through the EDSS. If you are unable to utilize the EDSS to submit documents to the Court, you can submit documents by the following means:
Prior to contacting the Pro Se Unit or submitting documents through the EDSS, the Pro Se Unit strongly advises all pro se filers to review the "Representing Yourself in Federal District Court" handbook as it may provide information as to how you should proceed with your case and filings
In Person – Filings can be dropped off with the Pro Se Unit at the Intake Area of Room C-151 of the Clerk’s Office at 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130, between the hours of 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. If you are filing a new civil complaint, please arrive to the Pro Se Unit by 4:30 p.m. to allow time for review and processing of your documents. For security reasons, the Clerk’s Office promptly closes to the public at 5:00 p.m.
Mail – Filings can be mailed to the Pro Se Unit at Clerk’s Office, 500 Poydras Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70130.
Forms - As a service to the public, the Pro Se unit has provided several Civil and Habeas, Civil Pleading and Criminal Pleading forms, available on this website.
PRIOR TO SUBMITTING DOCUMENTS THROUGH THE EDSS, PLEASE ENSURE YOUR DOCUMENTS COMPLY WITH THE FOLLOWING RULES OF PROCEDURE:
Pursuant to Local Rule 10.1, all documents filed in this court must be on 8-1/2 by 11-inch paper, legibly written or printed without defacing erasures or interlineations, and must be double spaced, except that quotations and footnotes may be single spaced. If a document consists of more than two (2) pages, each page of the document must bear a sequential number, beginning with '2' for the second page. Standard font must be used. The Court may refuse to consider text presented in less than standard font, such as small or fine typeface.
All margins must be no less than one inch. No print or writing, except page numbers, must appear in the margins, and page numbers must not be less than one-half inch from the bottom of the page.
In addition to the requirements of Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 10(a), the caption must indicate the Division and Section (as applicable and after allotment), and the judge and magistrate judge to whom the case is assigned.
Pursuant to Local Rule 11.1, all pleadings submitted to the Clerk for filing by a party not represented by counsel must be signed by the party. Documents not signed by a party will not be accepted for filing. Electronic signatures (i.e., typed in any font) are not sufficient. The original signature pages must be scanned and uploaded through the EDSS. The filer's name, address, and telephone number shall be typed or printed below the signature.
Pursuant to Local Rule 5.4, when a document that is required to be served is served by means other than the Court’s electronic filing system, the document must include a certificate of service indicating that the document has been served on all parties contemporaneously with its filing with the court, or within a reasonable period of time after the document has been filed with the court, and must list each party on which the document has been served by means other than the court’s electronic filing system, and the means of service.
DOCUMENT UPLOAD INSTRUCTIONS:
A maximum five documents can be uploaded and must be in PDF format. All PDF files should flattened whenever possible. Photos of documents are not acceptable and may be stricken. The file name and description cannot include special characters. Documents must be uploaded and submitted within one hour of starting the process or you must start over.
1. Click “Browse” to choose a document to upload. Documents must be in a PDF format (photos of documents are not acceptable and may be stricken), each individual document uploaded cannot be larger than 30 mb in size, and file names may not contain any of the following characters: \ / : * ? " < > |. Links to documents stored in remote storage services will not be recognized by the court.
2. In the document description field, please provide a brief description of the title of the document (e.g., complaint, memorandum in support, exhibit, civil cover sheet, etc.).
3. When all files have been uploaded (maximum of 5), click “Submit” to complete the submission process.
4. After the submission process has been completed, a confirmation email will be sent to the email address provided by the filer. If you do not receive a confirmation email, please re-submit your document(s), or contact the Pro Se Unit at (504) 589-7751.
5. If there are more than 5 files associated with the filing, please repeat the document upload process until all files associated with the filing have been provided to the Court.