More Categories

Rule 2-326 – Certain Transfers from District Court

May 13, 2021 | Civil Prodcedure, Maryland

(a) Notice. Upon entry on the docket of an action transferred from the District Court pursuant to a demand for jury trial or a demand for transfer pursuant to section (d) of Rule 3-326, the clerk shall send to the plaintiff and each party who has been served in the District Court action a notice that states the date of entry and the assigned docket reference and includes a “Notice to Defendant in substantially the following form:

Notice to Defendant

If you are a “defendant, “counter-defendant, “cross defendant, or “third-party defendant in this action and you wish to contest the case against you, you must file in this court an answer or other response to the complaint, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim within 30 days after the date of this notice, regardless of whether you filed a notice of intention to defend or other response in the District Court.

Committee note: If an action is transferred and a defendant or third-party defendant has not been served with process, the burden is on the plaintiff or third-party plaintiff to obtain service, as if the action were originally filed in a circuit court.

(b) Answer or Other Response; Subsequent Proceedings. Regardless of whether a notice of intention to defend or other response was filed in the District Court, a defendant, counter-defendant, cross defendant, or third-party defendant shall file an answer or other response to the complaint, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim within 30 days after the clerk sends the notice required by section (a) of this Rule. Following the expiration of the 30-day period, the action shall thereafter proceed as if originally filed in the circuit court.

Md. R. Civ. P. Cir. Ct. 2-326

This Rule is new.

Adopted April 6, 1984, eff. July 1, 1984. Amended Nov. 20, 1984, eff. Jan. 1, 1985; June 3, 1988, eff. July 1, 1988; Feb. 10, 1998, eff. July 1, 1998; Nov. 12, 2003, eff. Jan. 1, 2004.

HISTORICAL NOTES

2003 Orders

The November 12, 2003, order amended the rule caption from “Transfers from District Court on Demand for Jury Trial to “Certain Transfers from District Court; and, in section (a), inserted “or a demand for transfer pursuant to section (d) of Rule 3-326 and made a stylistic change.