Rule 6.Time

Rule 6(a) sets the counting method for any deadline, whether it comes from the rules, a court order, or a statute: skip the day of the triggering act or event, then start counting. The last day counts too, unless it falls on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday, or any day the Prothonotary's office happens to be closed, in which case the deadline pushes to the next day the office is open. When the prescribed period runs less than 11 days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays are dropped from the count instead of just shifting the final day.

Rule 6(b) gives the Court room to extend most deadlines for cause shown. A request made before the original period expires can be granted with or without a motion or notice. Once the period has already run out, the party has to show excusable neglect. That flexibility stops at a defined list, though — the Court can't extend the time to act under Rules 50(b), 59(b), 59(d), 59(e), or 60(b), except to whatever extent those rules allow on their own terms, because those deadlines govern challenges to a judgment after trial.

Rule 6(d) requires a written motion, other than one that may be heard ex parte, and notice of the hearing to be served no later than 2 days before the hearing, unless these rules or a court order set a different period; the Court can shorten that on an ex parte application for cause. An affidavit supporting the motion has to be served with it, and opposing affidavits generally have to be served no later than 1 day before the hearing, unless the Court allows a different schedule.

Rule 6(e) adds 3 days to a deadline that runs from service by mail, but only for actions the parties take — it doesn't extend a deadline for something the Court itself has to do. Rule 6(c), which once addressed the opening and closing of a court's term, has been repealed, so none of this depends on the court calendar's own schedule.