Articles in the Civil Practice category - Page 5 of 7

North Carolina Rule of Civil Procedure 59 permits a trial judge to order a “new trial” for a number of reasons, including prejudicial irregularity, jury misconduct, newly-discovered evidence, insufficient evidence […]

A plaintiff facing a soon-to-expire limitations period may feel a rush of relief when the complaint is clocked in to the clerk’s office on time and the summons is ready […]

“Get Cash for Your Structured Settlement Payments NOW!” “See What Your Structured Settlement Payments Can Do!” “Get the Cash You Need Now!” Ever see ads like these and wonder what […]

First, Some Attorney Fee Basics. North Carolina generally follows the “American Rule” in requiring parties to civil litigation to be responsible for their own attorney fees: “It is well-established that […]

I promised to follow up my last post with a discussion of that little change in S.L. 2015-153 to G.S. 7A-314, the witness fee statute. First some background: General Statute […]

The General Assembly has amended the rule of procedure in civil cases for discovery of information about another party’s expert witness.  North Rule of Civil Procedure 26(b)(4) has largely been […]

This Post was written by Professor Michael Crowell, UNC School of Government.

The question about fines for civil contempt is now resolved. Just over a year after the court of appeals allowed the use of a fine for civil contempt the General Assembly stepped in to say no, fines are not allowed for civil contempt, the only sanction is confinement until the person complies with the court order. In doing so, the legislature restored the law to what most thought it was before the appellate court ruling.

READ POST "NO FINES FOR CIVIL CONTEMPT (August 21, 2015)"

Defendant fails to answer the complaint on time, so plaintiff seizes the moment and obtains default judgment.  A party does not understand a notice of hearing, fails to attend, and […]

My last post discussed the clerk of court’s role in determining whether a case is eligible for small claims court under the terms of the chief district court judge’s order […]

When a litigant presents a complaint and asks that the case be heard in small claims court, a clerk has different responsibilities than when a plaintiff wishes to file any […]