Pleadings and other papers may be filed with the clerk of the Brown County Juvenile Court by facsimile transmission to (937) 378-6726 as provided in this rule.

(A) Applicability

1. This rule applies to proceedings in the Brown County Juvenile Court.
2. The following documents will not be accepted for fax filing:  Original Delinquent, Unruly, Traffic, Abuse, Neglect, Dependency, Paternity, Contempt filings or any filing that requires a filing fee.

(B) Original Filing:

1. A document filed by fax shall be accepted as the effective original filing. The person filing a document by fax is not required to file any source document with the clerk. The person filing the document shall maintain in his or her records and have available for production on request by the Court the source document filed by fax, with original signatures as otherwise required under the applicable rules, and the source copy of the facsimile cover sheet used for the subject filing.
2. The source document filed by fax shall be maintained by the person making the filing until the case is closed and all opportunities for post judgment relief are exhausted.

(C) Definitions As used in these rules:

1. “Facsimile transmission” means the transmission of a source document by a facsimile machine that encodes a document into optical or electrical signals, transmits and reconstructs the signals to print a duplicate of the source document at the receiving end. “Facsimile transmission” does not include transmission by email.
2. “Facsimile machine” means a machine that can send and receive a facsimile transmission.
3. “Fax” is an abbreviation for “facsimile” and refers, as indicated by the context, to facsimile transmission or to a document so transmitted.

(D)  Cover Page:

The person filing a document by fax shall also include a cover page containing all of the following information:

1. Name of the court;
2. Title of the case;
3. Case number;
4. Name of the judge to whom the case is assigned , if any;
5. Title and or description of the document being filed
6. Date of transmission;
7. Transmitting fax number;
8. Indication of the number of pages included in the transmission, including the cover page;
9. If a judge or case number has not been assigned, state that fact on the cover page;
10. Name, address, telephone number, fax number, Supreme Court registration number, if applicable, and e-mail address of the person filing the fax document if available;

If a document is sent by fax to the clerk without the cover page information listed above, the clerk may do either of the following:

1. Enter the document in the case docket and file the document;
2. Deposit the document in a file of failed faxed documents with a notation of the reason for the failure.
3. If the clerk acts pursuant to division (2) of this section, the document shall not be considered filed with the clerk.

(E)  Signature

A party who wishes to file a signed source document by fax shall do either of the following:

1. Fax a copy of the signed source document;
2. Fax a copy of the document without the signature but with the notation “/s/”followed by the name of the signing person where the signature appears in the signed source document.

A party who files a signed document by fax represents that the physically signed source document is in his or her possession or control.  Any signature on electronically transmitted documents shall be considered that of the attorney or party it purports to be for all purposes.  If it is established that the documents were transmitted without authority, the Court shall order the filing stricken.

(F)  Exhibits

1. Each exhibit to a facsimile produced document that cannot be accurately transmitted via facsimile transmission for any reason shall be replaced by an insert page describing the exhibit and why it is missing. Unless the Court otherwise orders, the missing exhibit shall be filed with the Court, as a separate document, not later than five court days following the filing of the facsimile document. The Court may strike any document or exhibit, or both, if missing exhibits are not filed as required by this section.
2. Any exhibit filed pursuant to Section 6.01 shall include a cover sheet containing the caption of the case that sets forth the name of the court, title of the case, the case number, name of the judge and the title of the exhibit being filed (e.g., Plaintiff Smith’s Notice of Filing Exhibit “G” to Plaintiff Smith’s Response to Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss). The exhibit and cover sheet shall be signed and served in conformance with the rules governing the signing and service of pleadings in this Court.

(G) Subject to the provisions of these rules, all documents sent by fax and received by the Clerk shall be considered filed with the Clerk of Court as of the date and time automatically imprinted by the fax machine of the Clerk of Court.  The fax machine will be available to receive facsimile filings on the basis of 24 hours per day seven days per week including holidays.

(H)  Fax filings may not be sent directly to the Court for filing but may only be transmitted directly through the facsimile equipment operated by the Clerk of Court.

(I)  The Clerk of Court may, but need not, acknowledge receipt of a facsimile transmission.

(J)  The risks of transmitting a document by fax to the Clerk of Court shall be borne entirely be the sending party.  Anyone using facsimile filing is urged to verify receipt of such filing by the Clerk of Court through whatever technological means are available.