Notice of Court
There are multiple types of Notice of Court notifications that are uniquely created based on specific case-related actions. You can receive notices in this category when you submit a filing electronically through PACFile, when an individual submits a filing on one of your Appellate court cases outside of PACFile, when you are acting on an Appellate court case in a third or non-party role, or you are eligible to receive a unique type of eService on a Common Pleas court case. In most instances, these notifications are informative and do not require you to take any responsive action.
Some of the notifications types in this screen have different uses depending on whether the corresponding case is filed in the Appellate or Common Pleas courts. These differences are noted, where applicable, in the sections below.
Party Filing, Non-Party Filing, & Case Initiation notifications
Appellate Court cases
There is no mandate that requires attorneys and pro se litigants to use PACFile for the submission of case filings. As a result, filings can continue to be submitted to the court using traditional methods (i.e. by mail, commercial carrier, etc.).
Some Notice of Court notifications, therefore, are created for PACFile-registered users as a supplemental way to view the documents that were filed on their cases outside of PACFile. Importantly, these notifications should not be likened to eService notifications. These notices are created only to acknowledge that the court has received and docketed a paper filing and that the corresponding document has been made available to view electronically. In these instances, the filing party should have already executed document service using traditional methods external to PACFile.
A filing that is submitted on paper and docketed by the court generates one of the following notification types:
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Party Filing - Notifications from the court confirming that a paper filing has been submitted on one of your cases by another participant.
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Non Party Filing - Notifications from the court confirming that a paper filing has been submitted on one of your cases by someone in a third or non-party role (ex. Amicus).
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Case Initiation - Notifications regarding any new case actions that were paper-filed with the court where you, or the person you are proxying for, are a participant, attorney, or a member of the lower tribunal.
Common Pleas Court cases
eService is delivered based on the list of PACFile-registered recipients on a case that are designated to receive service. Depending on the docket type of the case, however, there are instances where other participants, often county employees, receive a variation of this eService because they are considered to be an interested party. For example, this might occur when a document is filed electronically on a Dependency case and a unique notice is sent to the assigned caseworker.
When these scenarios apply to you, a courtesy copy of the eService notice will be sent as one of the following notification types:
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Party Filing - Related to a filing on one of your existing cases that has been submitted electronically by another case participant or the attorney of a case participant.
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Non Party Filing - Related to a filing on one of your existing cases, which has been submitted electronically by a filer that cannot be systematically determined. These notifications are rare.
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Case Initiation - Related to new case filings that have been docketed by the court on one of your cases. These do not apply to cases on the Juvenile docket type.
Filing Submitted & Filing Accepted notifications
A separate notification type is created to track the acceptance process for any PACFilings submitted by you or your proxy. When you submit a PACFiling, a notification is created with a Notification Type of Filing Submitted. This notification is your confirmation that the filing was submitted successfully. As the court accepts and dockets your electronic filings on the appropriate cases, you will receive confirmation through Filing Accepted notifications.
Filing Accepted, Payment Changed notifications
Notifications signifying that your PACFiling was accepted, but the filing name was incorrect. The court corrected the filing name, which resulted in a lower fee, and the credit card was automatically charged for the decreased amount (if greater than zero). These notices are only meant to inform the filer of the filing name change and the fee amount that was charged.
Filing Rejected notifications
Notifications signifying that a PACFiling submitted by another case participant was rejected due to a substantial defect. The filer's only recourse is to submit an entirely new filing that addresses the reasons for the rejection. These notices serve as a warning that the documents delivered via eService were not accepted by the court.
Filing Returned for Correction notifications
Notifications signifying that a PACFiling submitted by another case participant was returned by the court, due to some minor defect, and the filer is being asked to update the filing and resubmit. These notices serve as a warning that the documents delivered via eService were not accepted by the court. These notices only apply to filings submitted to the Courts of Common Pleas.
Court Filing notifications
Appellate Court cases
Notifications with a type of 'Court Filing' are created in the limited scenario where a court order is issued on one of your cases where you are acting in a third or non-party role (ex. Amicus, Intervenor, etc.). This is an eService notification. These notifications represent an exception to the rule that typically delivers all court orders as eService notifications. Use the links below as a guide for the list of non-party roles on each Appellate Court docket type:
Common Pleas court cases
Notifications with a type of Court Filing are created in the limited scenario where you are the courtesy copy recipient of an eService notification that is related to a document filed by the court on one of your cases.