North Carolina case paths
Where you stand in the case decides which tools and which law apply. Find your situation; the path is yours to take.
I was just served
Thirty days — no Monday rule. Compute your deadline, see Rule 8(b) in its own words, and understand what an answer must do.
I'm deciding how to respond
Answer, or move first? NC has no due-order trap — but a threshold defense omitted from your FIRST Rule 12 response can be gone (12(g)/(h)).
We're in discovery
The classic scope, the 40-day discovery meeting, stated responses, and the 26(c) lever — with the Mirror reading your drafts like the other side.
A dispositive motion is coming
The MSJ must be served ten days before the hearing; a premature one is met with the 56(f) affidavit.
There's a judgment
Thirty days to appeal; an appeal alone stays nothing (the § 1-289 undertaking does); then the enforcement lane — with the debtor's exemptions shown first.
It's an eviction (summary ejectment)
The magistrate machine: the clerk's summons, the small-claims hearing, and the 10-DAY de novo appeal that is the tenant's lifeline.
It's a specialized matter
DVPO (50B), Business Court designation, foreclosure before the clerk — each runs its own machine with its own clocks and preconditions.