N.C. R. Prac. Sup. & Dist. Ct. Civ. P. 5
Notice of Appearance
Private defense attorneys who have been retained on a case filed in district court shall enter a Notice of Limited or General Appearance with the Clerk of Superior court no less than 30 days prior to the next scheduled court event or within 7 days of being retained whichever is sooner.
Attorneys are required to use state form AOC-G-312 Notice of Appearance by Counsel.
All state forms are available in the Forms Directory on the North Carolina Judicial Branch website at:
Appointed and privately retained attorneys shall comply with all duties of diligent case investigation and preparation prescribed by the DCCM. Appointed and privately retained attorneys shall appear for all scheduled court events unless granted leave by the assigned judge in advance of the scheduled event.
Continuances
It is the policy of the 26th Judicial District to provide justice for citizens without unnecessary delay and without undue waste of the time and other resources of the Court, the litigants, and other case participants. To protect the credibility of scheduled trial dates, trial-date continuances are especially disfavored.
The 26th Judicial District, District Criminal Court, continuance policy shall be implemented in a manner that does not conflict with North Carolina law. The court will resolve scheduling conflicts when an attorney has conflicting engagements in different courts in accordance with Rule 3.1 of the General Rules of Practice for the Superior and District Courts.
A showing of due diligence is required for the district court to grant continuances. All trial continuances shall be scheduled no later than 30 days after the original setting, except for extraordinary circumstances.
All applications for a continuance are addressed to the sound legal discretion of the presiding (assigned) judge and, if not expressly provided for, shall be granted or refused as the ends of justice may requires.
Trials. All trial dates shall be a firm date. Continuances will not be granted except upon a showing of good cause or the fair administration of justice requires a continuance.
Even where both parties agree, the circumstances warranting a continuance must be stated in any motion for continuance which will be considered and ruled upon by the Court. Continuances will not be granted merely by agreement of counsel.
Track 1 Trial Continuances
Continuances of Track 1 cases set on a trial calendar shall be disfavored except upon a showing of good cause. The fact that the setting is the first trial setting or to seek global plea offers are not alone good cause absent specific demonstration that a continuance is necessary to prevent prejudice to a party or for the fair and proper administration of justice.
Motions to continue Track 1 cases advanced on the day of trial may be made orally or in writing and addressed to the presiding judge. The presiding judge shall enter written findings and its ruling into Enterprise Justice and send to clerk. The clerk shall make the court's findings and the courts ruling docketable.
Motions to continue Track 1 trials advanced by one party at least 30 days in advance of the scheduled trial and consented to by opposing counsel may be effectuated without approval of the assigned judge. Where agreement is not reached, the motion shall be made in writing, stating the grounds therefore and presented to the assigned judge for a ruling.
The rescheduled trial shall be held, to the greatest extent possible within 30 days.
Track 2 Trial Continuances
The trial date established for Track 2 cases at the Pretrial Readiness Conference shall be a firm date. Continuances will not be granted unless for a circumstance that could not have been reasonably foreseen and/or the fair administration of justice requires a continuance.
Applications for continuances of Track 2 matters that have been placed on a trial setting must be made in writing using local form CRF-13 Motion to Continue, served on the opposing counsel and shall be electronically filed via eCourts File & Serve or Attorney Manager at least 30 days prior to the scheduled trial date. If opposing counsel objects to the continuance, the objection may be presented at a hearing on the motion or its basis may be stated in writing using local form CRF-15 Objection to Motion to Continue, served on the moving attorney and shall be electronically filed via eCourts File & Serve or Attorney Manager.
All local forms are available on Mecklenburg County's Local Rules and Forms page on NCcourts.gov:
https://www.nccourts.gov/locations/mecklenburg-county/mecklenburg-county-local-rules-and-forms.
All local forms are available on Mecklenburg County's Local Rules and Forms page on NCcourts.gov:
https://www.nccourts.gov/locations/mecklenburg-county/mecklenburg-county-local-rules-and-forms.
In the event of an emergency or if unforeseen circumstances arise in which the 30-day requirement is unable to be met, the same process shall be followed to have the matter scheduled in front of the assigned district court judge as soon as the circumstance is known. Only emergency matters or situations involving exigent circumstances that could not have been reasonably foreseen prior to the deadline will be scheduled outside of the allowed submission deadline. Continuance requests received after the 30-day deadline for reasons known before that time will be summarily denied.
Actions will not be removed from a trial calendar except by order of the presiding (assigned) judge or the Chief District Judge if the assigned judge is unavailable.
Pretrial Readiness, Case Management Conferences and Plea Slots. Applications for continuance of a scheduled PTRC, CMCR or plea slot must be made using local form CRF-13 Motion to Continue, served on opposing counsel and shall be electronically filed via eCourts File & Serve or Attorney Manager at least 10 days prior to the scheduled event. Objections shall be made in writing using local form CRF-15 Objection to Motion to Continue, served on the moving party and shall be electronically filed via eCourts File & Serve or Attorney Manager within 3 business days of receiving notice of the motion to continue.
All local forms are available on Mecklenburg County's Local Rules and Forms page on NCcourts.gov:
https://www.nccourts.gov/locations/mecklenburg-county/mecklenburg-county-local-rules-and-forms.
All local forms are available on Mecklenburg County's Local Rules and Forms page on NCcourts.gov:
https://www.nccourts.gov/locations/mecklenburg-county/mecklenburg-county-local-rules-and-forms.
Good cause reasons for continuances of events, other than Track 2 Trials, requested within the deadlines in the DCCM order, include the following:
Reasonable scheduling conflicts for the defendant; Religious holidays for the defendant or necessary witnesses, with affidavit; Lack of notice to defendant within three days of an event, absent court documentation of notice being provided to counsel; Reasonable scheduling conflicts for counsel, except the DA and defense counsel shall be requested, when known in advance, to assign associate counsel for non-trial events, where required by the court, and for the associate counsel to meet the requirements for preparation for each non-trial event; Unavailability of a witness for trial or other dispositive event; Unavailability of a victim for trial or other event for which the victim has a right to be present and/or heard; and Any other good cause reason as determined by the presiding judge.Extraordinary cause reasons for granting continuances or an extension of time of Track 2 matters scheduled for trial, include the following:
The party is absent, and counsel are present to substantiate a good cause for his or her absence, including, but not limited to, illness or injury; Absence or serious illness of counsel; Absence of witness more than 100 miles from the court; Party, leading attorney, or material witness in attendance on active duty as member of National Guard or component of armed forces of the United States, with our without motion of the parties; and Case not reached during trial week.N.c. R. Prac. Sup. & Dist. Ct. Civ. P. 5