Every pleading shall have a caption setting forth the name of the court and the county in which the action is brought, the title of the action, the court file number if one has been assigned, and a designation as in Rule 7, and, in the upper right-hand comer, the appropriate case type indicator as set forth in the subject matter index included in the appendix as Form 23. If a case is assigned to a particular judge for all subsequent proceedings, the name of that judge shall be included in the caption and adjacent to tiie file number. In the complaint, the title of the action shall include the names of all the parties, but in other pleadings it is sufficient to state the first party on each side with an propriate indication of other parties. A party may be identified by initials or pseudonvm only wiiere authorized by law or court order.
Minn. R. Civ. P. 10.01
Rule 10.01is amended to facilitate case management and document management in cases where a judge has been assigned to the case. By placing the judge’s name on the caption, it is often possible to expedite the delivery of filed documents to that judge. This provision is commonly required in federal court cases where all matters are assigned to a judge, including in the United States District Court for the District of Minnesota. See LR 5.1 (D. Minn.). The rule is also amended to require the inclusion of a court file number if one has been assigned.
Advisory Committee Comment-2018 Amendments
Rule 10.01 is amended to add theflrwd sentence to clarify that, although actions must normally be brought in the ruane of the real party in interest (see Rule 17.01 ), in certain limited circumstances the court may allow a party to proceed anonymously. In actions brought pursuant to Minn. Stat. ยง 604.31 for the nonconsensual dissemiruttion of private sexual images (so-called “revenge pom”), the party is entitled to an order allowing anonymity (such as by using the pseudonym “John Doe ” or “Jane Doe ” or a party’s real or substituted initials), but a court order is still required. In other exceptional circumstances, a party must obtain leave of court to proceed either under a pseudonym or by initials, and that relief is governed by the court’s discretion.