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COVID-19 UPDATE: New York State Courts Provide Guidance on E-Filing Procedures

Courts Remind Litigants That Any Filing That is Not “Essential” Will Not Be Accepted

New York, New York–April 2, 2020–In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, New York State Courts continue to clarify procedures and rules governing filings in civil cases. The New York State Courts recently provided guidance on the rules governing electronic filing of “essential” matters. The New York State Court stated as follows:

1. Non-essential matters will NOT be accepted for Filing
Due to the suspension of civil statutes of limitation by the Governor’s executive order 202.8, and in accordance with administrative order AO/78/20 all Court filings, either e-filed or hard copy, that are not essential matters will NOT be accepted.

Persons who believe that a specific pending or new matter should be included in this highly restrictive group should apply to the court for this designation by emergency application by Order to Show Cause, including a detailed explanation of the applicant’s rationale.

2. NEW Cover page REQUIRED for Essential Matters
NOTE: As stated on the Courts Website: With respect to AO/78/20 Exhibit A section E – Persons who believe that a specific pending or new matter should be included in this highly restrictive “essential matters” group should apply to the court for this designation by emergency application by order to show cause, including a detailed explanation of the applicant’s rationale.

In order to assist in identifying those matters that are essential and being filed in accordance with AO/78/20 Exhibit A section E a new cover page has been created which must be filed along with any filing and must either: (1) specify that a court has deemed the matter essential, in which case the filer must indicate the method of prior approval, or (2) that the papers being filed seek such a designation.

The new Cover Page can be found on the FORMS page.

3. EXPANSION OF E-FILING
Effective immediately AO/81A/2020 confirms and extends e-filing programs for consensual use of E-Filing to matters set forth in AO/78/20 Exhibit A (and any other matters herein after deemed by the Chief Administrative Judge to be essential proceedings during the coronavirus public health emergency) in all counties currently authorized to file by electronic means.

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Formed in 2018 by attorney Evan S. Fensterstock, a New York Rising Star business litigator for the last five consecutive years, Fensterstock, P.C. represents clients in complex, commercial litigation and employment matters in trials, appeals, and negotiations on both the plaintiff and defense side in New York state and federal courts, and in arbitration, in cases involving breach of contract, indemnification, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud, non-competition agreements and restrictive covenants, defamation, trade secret misappropriation, shareholder derivative suits, negligence, accounting and legal malpractice, false light invasion of privacy, injunctions, and Sarbanes Oxley whistleblower actions. The Fensterstock name has been respected by the legal community for nearly a century, starting with New York Assistant Attorney General Nathaniel Fensterstock (1916-1988), Evan Fensterstock’s grandfather, who wrote the History of New York Social Welfare Legislation in 1941, and Blair C. Fensterstock (1950-2017), Evan Fensterstock’s late father, a Columbia Law Graduate, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a Top 100 Business Litigator, known for, among other notable matters, trying cases arising out of the 1993 World Trade Center bombings.

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