Illinois Supreme Court Rule 9 governs electronic filing (e-filing) in Illinois civil cases. It explains what happens when a time-sensitive filing is delayed by a system problem or rejected by the clerk. Since statewide e-filing became mandatory, Rule 9 has been the safety valve lawyers rely on when something goes wrong between “submission” and “acceptance.”

The practical issue is simple: many documents are not considered filed just because you uploaded them. Furthermore, if the clerk rejects the submission and you fix it after the deadline, you may need Rule 9(d) relief to treat the document as timely. That’s why Rule 9 matters for everyday risk management, especially for statute-of-limitations complaints, post-judgment motions, and appellate-deadline filings. The 2025 amendment is significant because it changed the standard courts use when deciding whether to backdate a corrected e-filing after a rejection, making outcomes more predictable when the rule’s requirements are met.