Rule 17. DOCUMENTS: ELECTRONIC FILINGS

(1) All documents submitted through the electronic filing system shall be on letter size (8 1/2" x 11″) white paper in a searchable portable document format (PDF).

(2) Such documents shall have not less than 1.2x spacing and no more than double spacing between the lines of text, except that block quotations, headings, captions, or footnotes may use single spacing. Margins shall be no less than one inch at the top, bottom and sides.

(3) Documents submitted through the electronic filing system may not contain hyperlinks to other documents or to external websites, but hyperlinks between portions of a filed document are permissible.

(4) The sealing of documents is very rare in the Supreme Court. Parties seeking to seal a document should contact the Clerk's Office well in advance of the filing deadline. If permission to seal a document is granted, then parties should contact the Clerk's Office before submitting documents containing material that is under seal through the electronic filing system. Filers are admonished to pay strict attention to this instruction, since documents submitted through the electronic filing system are ordinarily posted publicly.

(5) Personal identifying information contained in the filings must be redacted as provided in OCGA § 9-11-7.1. Also, filings must refrain from including other personally identifying information such as (1) names of individuals who are minors (under the age of 18) at the time the filing is submitted to this Court (use instead the minor's initials) and (2) home addresses. The responsibility to redact this information rests with counsel and the parties.

(6) No material may appear redacted in a filing with the Court except as set out in Rule 17 (5) or unless counsel for any party secures prior permission from this Court to redact the sensitive materials from the filings. Unredacted material included in nonconfidential or unsealed filing will ordinarily be posted publicly. 21