How Email Noticing Works

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Requirements  Redundant Mode  Name & Adddress Matching  Email Transmission  Email Format 

Requirements

1. Email Notice Delivery Confirmation Requirement

   Your email system must be able to provide a confirmation that the notices were successfully delivered to your mailbox in order to comply with Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9036. This confirmation can be provided through one of the following ways:

   1. Confirmation via Delivery Service Notification (DSN)

      The first thing you should do is determine whether your email account is Delivery Status Notification (DSN) compliant. If you use an email provider that is DSN compliant it will automatically return an electronic email confirmation to the BNC that the email sent by the BNC was delivered to your mailbox. Initial results from email testing by the BNC indicate that a number of the larger consumer-oriented email providers are not DSN-compliant (e.g., AOL, Yahoo, MSN, Mindspring).

      "How do I know if my email account is DSN compliant?" We provide testing service for DSN compliance.

   2. Confirmation via Automatic Mail Response

   If you have determined that your email provider is not DSN-compliant after running the automatic check in (a) above, you should then check to see if your provider is capable of providing an automatic, predefined email response upon receipt of an incoming message. Generally, organizations should have this capability where they control their own email network (i.e., you do not dial up to an Internet Service Provider to retrieve your email). This can generally be achieved by setting up a rules-based response in your email system, sometimes referred to as an "autoresponder" or "Mailbot."

   If your email fails our dsn test, you will be provided guidelines for how you might set up automatic email response.

   Many organizations use one of the many email management software products available in the marketplace that can be set-up to provide an e-mail confirmation to a sender upon receipt of an incoming message. email management software products can provide additional time-saving functions, such as reviewing the contents of the message so that it might be routed to the appropriate individual or group in an organization. Because the body text of an electronic notice itemizes the content of the notice attachment, a mid- or large-size organization could realize significant benefits by utilizing the automatic routing feature of their email management software.

2. PDF requirement

   You must have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat PDF reader software installed on your PC. If you do not have this software you can download it free of charge from http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
   

3. Noticing Agreement

   You must complete our online Noticing Agreement signup process. You may call our toll-free support number if you require help.

Redundant Mode

1. Upon receipt of your signed Noticing Agreement, the BNC will conduct a test to confirm that your email account is working and that your email provider is capable of returning a valid acknowledgement to confirm that notices were successfully delivered to your mailbox.

2. email service will be initiated approximately two weeks after you complete and return the Noticing Agreement.

3. During the first 30 days of EBN service, the BNC will send the notice electronically as well as mail the paper copy so that you may confirm the process is working properly.

4. Upon expiration of the 30 day redundant mode (redundant mode begins from the date the BNC sets up your service, not the date of your first EBN notice) all future notices processed by the BNC for this court will only be sent electronically without further notice. Call the BNC at 877-837-3424 if you have other specific needs.

Name and Address Matching

When you fill in the Noticing Agreement you must identify the name(s) and address(s) and name synonyms (spelling variations of your name) to which electronic notices are to be sent. Some courts maintain a list of standardized names and addresses for some recipients (e.g., attorneys admitted to practice before the court). You may contact the clerk's office EBN coordinator to see if they have you listed. The address(s) that you list must contain a Zip+4 (9-digit) Zip Code. If you do not know your Zip+4 you can find it by going to www.usps.com/ncsc/lookups/lookups.htm.

1. The BNC determines that a notice should be sent electronically by comparing the name synonyms and addresses listed on your Noticing Agreement with the names and addresses that the debtor lists on his petition. The BNC software will attempt to match the name (without punctuation) and address and send the notice electronically.

2. If the recipient names and address in the court's notice instructions do not match the name(s) and address(s) on the Noticing Agreement, the BNC will mail the notice via the US postal service. If applicable, contact the court EBN Coordinator (see Court List for EBN POC) to add additional names and addresses that debtors designate for you or your company.

3. If your Noticing Agreement is required to be submitted to the court you must notify the EBN coordinator in each court should your E-mail or any names and addresses used for electronic noticing change.

4. If your Noticing Agreement was submitted directly to the BNC you must notify the BNC should your E-mail or any names and addresses used for electronic noticing change.

5. For details and examples of the EBN Name and Address matching process click here.

Email Transmission

The BNC will transmit the email each evening. The following guidelines apply to email transmission:

1. The BNC maintains a record confirming delivery of the electronic notice. If the BNC is unable to confirm receipt of the delivery for any reason, the notice will be printed and mailed the following day.

2. Should electronic noticing delivery to you be unsuccessful three consecutive times, the service will be terminated without further notice and only mailed copies will be sent. You must contact the court EBN coordinator or the BNC to resolve the issue and have electronic noticing service reinstated.

3. The BNC is not responsible for notices that are acknowledged but your ISP software incorrectly deletes the email for any reason, e.g., if the ISP makes an incorrect determination that the notices are unsolicited "junk" email.

4. The BNC will not retransmit notices. Contact the court to get another copy.

5. Not all notices you may receive in a case are processed through the BNC. Notices generated by trustees, attorneys, debtors, and some court-generated notices or orders will continue to be mailed to the address of record at the court.

Email Format

Those who use the email service will receive notices as PDF (Portable Data Format) file attachments. PDF is a cross-platform, fully searchable, open file format that retains the fidelity of original documents and has gained acceptance as the standard file format for electronic document distribution and printing.

PDF files can be shared, viewed and printed by anyone with a free Adobe Acrobat^(R) Reader. The Adobe Acrobat Reader software, which allows customers to view, navigate and print documents in PDF directly from within their Web browsers, is available for all major computer platforms including Windows^(R), Macintosh^(R), Unix, and LINUX. If you do not have it on your system, you can click here to download the free Adobe Acrobat^(R) Reader.

email recipients can select one of the following options for PDF file attachments:

1. An email that has a single PDF file attachment containing multiple notices. (Example: 20 notices would be sent as 1 email with 1 PDF file attachment). If a method is not chosen on the Noticing Agreement this will be the method used.
2. A single email for each notice, with one PDF file attachment per email. (Example: 20 notices would be sent as 20 emails, each email with one PDF file attachment).
3. An email that has multiple PDF file attachments (up to 25), each attachment containing 1 notice. (Example: 20 notices would be sent as 1 email with 20 PDF file attachments).

Each email will formatted as follows (click here to see example):

1. A subject header containing the BNC email serial number and your Noticing ID number. The serial number increases each time you are sent a message in order to help you determine that you have received all your emails.
2. Text that describes the number of notices and total notice pages contained in PDF notice file attachment.
3. Text that shows the name & address of the recipient, case number, court form code, and originating court for each notice contained in the PDF notice file attachment.

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