TITLE X. DISTRICT COURTS AND CLERKS:
CONDUCTING BUSINESS; ISSUING ORDERS
Rule 77. Conducting Business; Clerk's Authority;
Notice of an Order or Judgment
(a) When Court Is Open. Every district court is
considered always open for filing any paper, issuing
and returning process, making a motion, or entering
an order.
(b) Place for Trial and Other Proceedings. Every
trial on the merits must be conducted in open court
and, so far as convenient, in a regular courtroom.
Any other act or proceeding may be done or
conducted by a judge in chambers, without the
attendance of the clerk or other court official, and
anywhere inside or outside the district. But no
hearing — other than one ex parte — may be
conducted outside the district unless all the affected
parties consent.
(c) Clerk's Office Hours; Clerk's Orders.
(1) Hours.
The clerk's office — with a clerk or
deputy on duty — must be open during business
hours every day except Saturdays, Sundays, and
legal holidays. But a court may, by local rule or
order, require that the office be open for specified
hours on Saturday or a particular legal holiday
other than one listed in Rule 6(a)(4)(A).
(2) Orders. Subject to the court's power to suspend,
alter, or rescind the clerk's action for good cause,
the clerk may:
(A) issue process;
(B) enter a default;
(C) enter a default judgment under Rule
55(b)(1); and
(D) act on any other matter that does not
require the court's action.
(d) Serving Notice of an Order or Judgment.
(1) Service.
Immediately after entering an order or
judgment, the clerk must serve notice of the
entry, as provided in Rule 5(b), on each party
who is not in default for failing to appear. The
clerk must record the service on the docket. A
party also may serve notice of the entry as
provided in Rule 5(b).
(2) Time to Appeal Not Affected by Lack of
Notice. Lack of notice of the entry does not
affect the time for appeal or relieve — or
authorize the court to relieve — a party for
failing to appeal within the time allowed, except
as allowed by Federal Rule of Appellate
Procedure (4)(a).
(a) Providing a Regular Schedule for Oral
Hearings. A court may establish regular times and
places for oral hearings on motions.
(b) Providing for Submission on Briefs. By rule or
order, the court may provide for submitting and
determining motions on briefs, without oral hearings.
(1) In General. The clerk must keep a record
known as the "civil docket" in the form and
manner prescribed by the Director of the
Administrative Office of the United States
Courts with the approval of the Judicial
Conference of the United States. The clerk must
enter each civil action in the docket. Actions
must be assigned consecutive file numbers,
which must be noted in the docket where the
first entry of the action is made.
(2) Items to be Entered. The following items must
be marked with the file number and entered
chronologically in the docket:
(A) papers filed with the clerk;
(B) process issued, and proofs of service or other
returns showing execution; and
(C) appearances, orders, verdicts, and
judgments.
(3) Contents of Entries; Jury Trial Demanded.
Each entry must briefly show the nature of the
paper filed or writ issued, the substance of each
proof of service or other return, and the
substance and date of entry of each order and
judgment. When a jury trial has been properly
demanded or ordered, the clerk must enter the
word "jury" in the docket.
(b) Civil Judgments and Orders. The clerk must
keep a copy of every final judgment and appealable
order; of every order affecting title to or a lien on real
or personal property; and of any other order that the
court directs to be kept. The clerk must keep these in
the form and manner prescribed by the Director of
the Administrative Office of the United States Courts
with the approval of the Judicial Conference of the
United States.
(c) Indexes; Calendars. Under the court's direction,
the clerk must:
(1) keep indexes of the docket and of the judgments
and orders described in Rule 79(b); and
(2) prepare calendars of all actions ready for trial,
distinguishing jury trials from nonjury trials.
(d) Other Records. The clerk must keep any other
records required by the Director of the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts
with the approval of the Judicial Conference of the
United States.
If stenographically reported testimony at a hearing or
trial is admissible in evidence at a later trial, the
testimony may be proved by a transcript certified by the
person who reported it.