Rule 3:3.Filing of Pleadings; Return of Certain Writs.

Filing a pleading in a Virginia circuit court doesn’t require anyone’s permission. The clerk must receive and file every pleading when it’s tendered, noting and attesting the filing date — in an Electronically Filed Case, that notation follows Rule 1:17’s procedures. If someone disputes whether a party even had the right to file a particular pleading, the court decides that controversy, but the filing itself isn’t held up in the meantime.

A circuit court that has set up electronic filing under Rule 1:17 can designate a case as an Electronically Filed Case once all parties consent, following that court’s own procedures for making the designation. Once a case carries that designation, every pleading, motion, notice, and other filing must be formatted, served, and filed under Rule 1:17 — except where a rule expressly requires an original paper document. Even then, electronic filing isn’t abandoned: the filing party has to notify the clerk that the original needs to be retained. That retention duty covers a defined list of documents, among them anything a rule or statute requires to be sworn, verified, or certified; wills and other testamentary documents; contracts, deeds, prenuptial and settlement agreements; checks and other negotiable instruments; handwritten statements, waivers, or consents by a defendant or witness in a criminal proceeding; signed defendant forms in criminal cases, including guilty plea forms; and any document that can’t be converted into a clear, readable electronic image.

Two further provisions round out the rule. No writ may be made returnable more than 90 days after its date unless a statute allows a longer period. And the clerk must issue additional summonses on request, dating each one as of the day it’s issued.