Deadlines, Deadlines, Deadlines!

When you hire a lawyer to represent you in a lawsuit, you are hiring a skilled and trained professional--one who knows the problems and pitfalls you’re likely to face in court. Of all these major pitfalls, few are more dreaded, more serious, or more easily walked into than the pitfall known as the deadline.

Lawsuits are driven by deadlines. Almost any document that gets filed and/or served in a lawsuit may have any number of attendant deadlines attached to it. In North Carolina, if you file a complaint, you have only five days to issue a summons, followed by sixty days to actually serve the complaint on the opposing party. That party gets thirty days to then file an answer to the complaint. After that, there are thirty day deadlines attached to responding to discovery, and if a party files a motion and sets it for hearing, then there are deadlines regarding when materials must be submitted to the judge for use in that hearing.

These deadlines are calculated according to specific procedural rules, based upon which court you are in. In North Carolina, for example, certain types of service result in an additional three day extension, a special rule that may differ in federal court or in the courts of other states.

The Rules of Civil Procedure have their own deadlines built into them; but so do the various local courts that your case may wind up in. Knowing how these deadlines operate, and their ramifications for your case, is absolutely crucial for maintaining a strong position in your lawsuit.

The civil litigation attorneys at Asheville Legal are well apprised of the deadlines you’re likely to face in a given commercial litigation matter. If you have a lawsuit on your hands, and you’re concerned about the ramifications litigation deadlines may have for your case, then you should give us a call today.