North Carolina procedural guides

Plain-English guides to the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, each one tied to the rules it relies on. Every rule named in a guide has its own page with the official text.

• Responding to a North Carolina complaint: 30 days, and the 30 more you can get by agreementNorth Carolina gives 30 days to answer. Rule 6(b) also lets the parties stipulate to as much as 30 additional days without asking the court — a right most states don't grant.
• North Carolina discovery deadlines: 30 days — but 45 if you're the defendantNorth Carolina gives a defendant 45 days from service of the summons and complaint to answer written discovery, not the usual 30. Requests can also arrive with the summons itself.
• North Carolina summary judgment: 10 days to the hearing, and a 2-day affidavit rule that means actual receiptN.C. Rule 56(c) requires the motion 10 days before the hearing and opposing affidavits 2 days before — and for that 2-day rule, service means the other side actually receives it.
• North Carolina Rule 9(j): the certification goes in the complaint, or the case is dismissedNorth Carolina Rule 9(j) requires a medical malpractice complaint to assert that an expert has reviewed the care and will testify it fell below the standard — with a 120-day extension available only before the limitations period runs.
• North Carolina default judgment: the clerk enters it, and three days' notice if you appearedNorth Carolina Rule 55 lets the clerk enter both the default and, on a sum certain, the judgment — with three days' written notice to a party who has appeared, and Rule 60(b)'s one-year outer limit to undo it.
• Serving a North Carolina summons: 60 days, then endorsement or an alias and pluriesNorth Carolina Rule 4 gives 60 days to serve a summons and keeps the action alive by endorsement or an alias and pluries summons — each available within 90 days of the last one.
• The North Carolina motion to dismiss: an extension of time waives nothingNorth Carolina Rule 12(b) lists seven defenses that may be raised by motion, and says expressly that getting an extension of time to answer waives none of them.
• The North Carolina motion to compel: a total non-response needs no order firstNorth Carolina Rule 37(d) allows sanctions for a complete failure to respond without any prior order — and fees are mandatory whichever way the motion goes.
• North Carolina execution: a discretionary stay hands back the appeal time it consumedNorth Carolina Rule 62(a) bars execution until the notice-of-appeal period expires, and Rule 62(b) restarts that period when a discretionary stay ends.
• North Carolina subpoenas: a records custodian can mail the documents instead of appearingNorth Carolina Rule 45 lets a custodian of public or hospital medical records send certified copies rather than attend, allows service by telephone for attendance, and gives ten days to object or move to quash.
• North Carolina depositions: 10 days' notice, or 15 if anyone lives out of stateNorth Carolina Rule 30 sets two notice periods depending on where the parties live, and dispenses with a subpoena entirely for a party or a party's officer, director or managing agent.
• North Carolina injunctions: dissolve one and damages follow without proving maliceNorth Carolina Rule 65 lets an order dissolving an injunction award damages against the party who obtained it and its sureties, expressly without any showing of malice or want of probable cause.
• North Carolina dismissal: one year to refile, whatever the limitation period saysNorth Carolina Rule 41 gives a plaintiff who dismisses without prejudice one year to bring a new action on the same claim, and taxes the costs of the action against the dismissing plaintiff.

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