When a court’s system rejects a filing with the message Court Response of Failure, it means your documents are in a format the court’s software can’t process. This usually means there’s an issue with your PDF files. To get your filing accepted, you’ll need to identify and correct the problem. Unfortunately, the court’s system doesn’t tell you exactly what’s wrong with the PDF.
Court Response of Failure rejections happen when attempting to e-file documents through Tyler Technologies’ courts such as eFileCA, eFileGA, eFileIL, eFileIN, eFileMD, eFileNV, eFileTX, and eFileVA. This automated rejection message signifies that the court’s system has encountered a format it cannot process, and the underlying cause stems from issues within your submitted PDF files.
Common Reasons for a Court Response of Failure
While the court’s system doesn’t tell you the specific issue with your rejected PDF, the good news is that the reasons for these Court Response of Failure errors are often common and relatively straightforward to resolve. Here are some typical culprits that lead to PDF incompatibility:
Incorrect Page Size
Ensure all pages within your PDF document adhere to the standard 8.5″ x 11″ letter size. Pages exceeding these dimensions can cause rejection.
Learn How to Format Your PDF to a 8.5″ X 11″ Letter Size
Unflattened Fillable Forms
If your PDF contains interactive fillable fields, these need to be “flattened” before submission as the court’s system often will not process these active fields. Flattening them converts the fields into static content and prevents others from manipulating or editing the information.
Incompatible PDF Creation Software
While many attorneys create their legal documents using software other than Adobe or Microsoft, some courts are unable to process the PDFs using that alternative software. PDFs created with Corel products such as WordPerfect or PDF Fusion are the most notable programs these courts have issues with. If you use one of these incompatible programs, you might consider switching software. If that is not an option, you may email your PDF to support@efilinghelp.com to see if we are able to assist with that document.
Password Protection or Security Restrictions
PDF documents that are password-protected or have security restrictions in place (like preventing printing or copying) cannot be processed by the court’s system. Remove any security features before e-filing.
PDF/A Format
While designed for archiving, the PDF/A format often has strict requirements that can lead to rejection by e-filing systems. Save your documents in a standard PDF format instead.
Excessive Scanned Document Resolution
While high-resolution documents might look good, resolutions exceeding 300 dots per inch (dpi) can create large files that the court’s system may reject. It is a best practice to scan all documents in black and white or grayscale and at 300dpi. Please refer to your scanner’s user manual to correctly set the dpi.
Use of Unintelligible Images
It is also a best practice to scan all photos at 300dpi and in black and white (if your particular court/judge allows for that). Additionally, they need to be both legible and in an 8.5″ x 11″ format. So if your photo is wider than it is tall, you should rotate the image 90 degrees so it’s orientation is a portrait layout as opposed to a landscape one.
Interactive Elements and Hyperlinks
Features like embedded URLs, shortcuts to local files, or hyperlinks within the PDF can cause processing errors. Remove these interactive (blue link) elements before submitting.
Unsupported Fonts
Certain non-standard or symbolic fonts, such as ZapfDingbats, Wingdings, and Symbols, may not be recognized by the court’s system. Use common, court-approved fonts. For additional questions, please refer to your local rules for those fonts they accept.