(A)       Scope.  These local rules are promulgated in accordance with Bankruptcy Rule 9029.  They shall apply to all cases and proceedings arising in, under, or related to cases pending under Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida.

[Comment: These local rules are sequentially numbered to correspond to certain of the Bankruptcy Rules, if applicable, except that a dash and a fifth digit has been added in accordance with the directive of the Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure of the Judicial Conference of the United States.  If no related national rule number exists, the local rule has been assigned a number for the related topic in accordance with the Judicial Conference of the United States Uniform Numbering System for Local Bankruptcy Rules.]

(B)       District Court Rules.  The Local Rules of the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida shall not apply to cases or proceedings in the Bankruptcy Court, except to the extent that Local Rules 87.1 through 87.5 of the District Court govern bankruptcy matters.

 [Comment: See Local Rule 87.1 of the United States District Court (giving bankruptcy court authority to enact local rules).]

(C)       Incorporation by Reference.  Reference in these rules to administrative orders, local forms, court guidelines or clerk’s instructions shall mean the referenced administrative order, form, guideline or instruction as revised or amended.

(D)       Sanctions.  The court, on its own motion or on the motion of any interested party, may impose sanctions for failure to comply with these rules, including; striking of papers filed with the court, dismissal of proceedings, dismissal or conversion of cases, or as may otherwise be appropriate under the circumstances.

(E)        Waiver in Appropriate Circumstances.  Upon motion of a party in interest or sua sponte, the court may suspend the requirements of any of these rules in appropriate circumstances.

(F)        Definitions.  Acronyms.

(1)        The terms “court”, “judge”, “clerk”, “local rule”, “local form” and “administrative order” shall refer to the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida and the judges, clerk, local rules, and local forms, and local administrative orders respectively, of this Bankruptcy Court, unless otherwise specifically noted.  The term “clerk” means the clerk of court or members of the clerk of court’s staff.  Reference to district court shall refer to the United States District Court, Southern District of Florida.

(2)        “Bankruptcy Rules” shall mean the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure.  Where an Interim Bankruptcy Rule is cited in these rules and that rule is subsequently adopted as a Bankruptcy Rule, the use of “Interim Bankruptcy Rule” shall mean the Bankruptcy Rule as subsequently adopted.

(3)        “Individual” shall mean natural person, and “non-individual” shall mean corporation, partnership, trust, or other legal entity which is not a natural person.

(4)        “Parties of record”, when used by the clerk to designate service, shall mean all parties listed on the “creditor mailing matrix” as described in the “Clerk’s Instructions for Preparing, Submitting and Obtaining Service Matrices”, except that registered users listed on “Mailing Information for a Case” matrix will receive service from the clerk via their designated email address, not the U.S. mail address listed on the “creditor mailing matrix”.

(5)        “Registered user” is an interested party who has been approved to electronically file papers in this court.

(6)        “CM/ECF” is an acronym for the “Case Management/Electronic Case Files” system used in this court.

(7)        “Electronic filing” is a filing submitted via the Internet by a registered user of CM/ECF in this court.

(8)        “Conventional filing” is a filing submitted in paper.

(9)        “NEF” is an acronym for “Notice of Electronic Filing” which is an electronic notice generated automatically by the CM/ECF system upon the electronic filing of a document in a case or docketing of a “virtual” public docket event.  It contains the names and email addresses of parties who were served electronically.  The NEF may also be viewed on the court docket by PACER subscribers.

(10)      “BNC” is an acronym for “Bankruptcy Noticing Center”, a centralized noticing service authorized by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts and contracted to an entity who provides service of notices on behalf of the United States bankruptcy courts.

(11)      “NCRS” is an acronym for “National Creditor Registration Service”, a non-fee registration service provided by the BNC that allows bankruptcy court notices to be transmitted electronically to parties in a case.  NCRS also maintains preferred mailing address lists for creditors pursuant to 11 U.S.C. §342(f).

(12)      “PDF” is an acronym for “portable document format”, a special file format created by Adobe Systems Inc.

(13)      “Business day” shall mean any day not a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday.  Otherwise, the definitions of words in 11 U.S.C. §101 and §1101 and Bankruptcy Rule 9001, and the rules of construction in 11 U.S.C. §102, govern their use in these rules.

(14)      “EBN” is an acronym for Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing which permits any party filing conventionally to receive clerk-served notices electronically via the BNC instead of by U.S. Mail. Parties register for EBN directly with the BNC, not with the court.

(15)      “DeBN” is an acronym for Debtor Electronic Bankruptcy Noticing which permits debtors to receive clerk-served notices and court orders electronically via the BNC instead of by U.S. Mail.  Debtors register for DeBN directly with the clerk of court by filing the Local Form “Debtor’s Request to Receive Notices Electronically Under DeBN Program”.

(16)       “CHAPTER 13 CONSENT CALENDAR” means a “Consent Calendar” conducted by a Standing Chapter 13 Trustee at which time plan confirmations, motions, objections, and other properly noticed matters may be announced as resolved by agreement, consent, or that the same are uncontested.

(17)      “ESI” is an acronym for Electronically Stored Information.

[Comment:  See Local Rule 5005-1(G)(1)(d) regarding the form of orders submitted in respect of matters heard on the Chapter 13 Consent Calendar.]

[Comment: See also Local Rule 2004-1 (Examination of Debtors, and Others). ESI - fully defined in Rule 34 of Fed. Rule of Civ. Prop. – applies to the writings, drawings, graphs, charts, photographs, sound recordings, images, and other data or data compilations – stored in any medium from which information can be obtained either directly or, if necessary, after translation by a responding party to a request for production.]