Mandatory Business Court Designation

2.1. Designation. (a) Form of notice. The party seeking to designate an action as a mandatory complex business case must file a Notice of Designation as provided in N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4. Appendix 1 to these rules contains a Notice of Designation template. (b) Method of service. In addition to serving the Notice of Designation as required by subsection 7A-45.4(c), the designating party should e-mail the Notice of Designation to the Chief Business Court Judge, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, and, as practicable, all parties. 4 TOC Rule 2 (c) Civil action number. Before a party files a Notice of Designation in an action, the Clerk of Superior Court in the county of venue will assign a civil action number to the action. When an action is designated or assigned to the Court, the action retains that civil action number. (d) Cost. Within ten days of the assignment of an action to a Business Court judge, the party responsible for paying the cost described in N.C.G.S. § 7A-305(a)(2) must file a certification in the Court that the cost has been paid to the Clerk of Superior Court in the county of venue. 2.2. Opposing a Notice of Designation. If a party files an opposition to a Notice of Designation pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(e), then any other party may file a response to the opposition. The response must be filed within fifteen days of service of the opposition or as otherwise ordered by the Court. Unless the Court orders otherwise, the party that filed the opposition may not file a reply. If the case is no longer designated as a mandatory complex business case, the action will proceed on the regular civil docket in the county of venue, although any party may seek to have the action designated as exceptional under Rule 2.1 of the General Rules of Practice. 2.3. Designation based on an amended pleading. (a) Procedure. If a party amends a pleading, and the amendment raises a new material issue listed in N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(a), any party may seek designation of the action as a mandatory complex business case within the time periods set forth in subsection 7A-45.4(d). If the party that files the amended pleading seeks the Notice of Designation must be made designation, contemporaneously with the filing of the amended pleading. If another party seeks designation based on the amended pleading, the Notice of Designation must be filed within thirty days of service of the amended pleading. For proposed amended pleadings, the thirty-day period begins to run on the later of (i) the timely filing of the court-allowed pleading or (ii) three days after the entry of any order that deems the proposed amended pleading to be filed. If, as a result of the amended pleading, the action falls within subsection 7A-45.4(b), the action must be designated to the Court under that subsection, and subsection 7A-45.4(g) will apply to any action if there is no designation. (b) New eligibility for designation. BCR 2.3(a) applies only that had not previously qualified under to an action 5 TOC Rule 2 subsection 7A-45.4(a) for designation to the Court. Parties added by subsequent pleadings, however, may designate an action to the Court in accordance with subsection 7A-45.4(d). The Notice of Designation procedure should not be utilized in connection with an amended pleading for the purpose of interfering with or delaying ongoing or upcoming proceedings or where designation of the action as a mandatory complex business case would be inconsistent with the interests of justice given the status of the proceedings. 2.4. What constitutes designation. For purposes of these rules, an action is designated as a mandatory complex business case when the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina in N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(c) and (f). A party’s filing of a Notice of Designation does not constitute designation of the action as a mandatory complex business case or effectuate the assignment of a case to the Court. issues an order as described 2.5. Designation under N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(a)(9). When seeking designation based on N.C.G.S. § 7A-45.4(a)(9), if the designating party lacks the consent of all parties, then the designating party may file a conditional Notice of Designation contemporaneously with the complaint, third-party complaint, petition for judicial review, answer, or other responsive pleading. The conditional Notice of Designation must be served by e-mail in the same manner set forth in BCR 2.1(b). The conditional Notice of Designation will be construed to comply with subsection 7A-45.4(d)(1). The designating party will then have thirty days after service on all parties of the complaint, third-party complaint, petition for judicial review, answer, or other responsive pleading to file a supplement to the conditional Notice of Designation that reflects consent by all parties to the Notice of Designation. A conditional Notice of Designation filed by a party under subsection 7A-45.4(d) is not deemed to be complete until the supplement is filed. Upon a motion or its own initiative, and for good cause shown, the Court may extend the time period to file a supplement to the conditional Notice of Designation. 2.6. Procedure upon remand from federal court. If an action governed by these rules has been removed to federal court, and the action is remanded to state court, then the parties must file a status report within fourteen days of the remand order. BCR 14.3 contains the procedures for remand following an appeal. 2.7. Procedure following entry of stay. If an action governed by these rules has been stayed pending an arbitration or bankruptcy proceeding, then the parties must file a status report within fourteen days of the resolution of the arbitration or bankruptcy proceeding unless otherwise ordered by the Court. History Note. 372 N.C. 911; 372 N.C. 844. 6 TOC Rule 3