In civil actions, special proceedings, and estates, documents filed with the court in paper must include a cover sheet that summarizes the critical elements of the document in a format that the Administrative Office of the Courts prescribes. The clerk of superior court may not reject the filing of a document that does not include a cover sheet. Instead, the clerk must file the document, notify the party of the omission, and grant the party no more than five days to file the cover sheet. Other than dismissing the case, the court should not act on the document before the cover sheet is filed.
N.C. R. Prac. Sup. & Dist. Ct. Civ. P. 5
Editor’s Note.
Amended August 26, 2020; amended September 23, 2020 October 1, 2020; amended October 6, 2020.
Comment
The North Carolina Judicial Branch will implement a statewide electronic-filing and case-management system beginning in 2021. The system will be made available across the state in phases over a five-year period.
Subsection (a) of Rule 5 of the General Rules of Practice lists those contexts in which electronic filing already exists and serves as a placeholder until the new electronic-filing and case-management system is available. As the new system is implemented, litigants should expect the General Rules of Practice, the North Carolina Business Court Rules, and the Supplemental Rules of Practice and Procedure for the North Carolina eFiling Pilot Project to undergo change.