In North Carolina Superior Court, there is no civil procedure tradition more respected than the courtesy of a thirty day extension of time to answer a Complaint or to respond to discovery.  Like it or not, motions seeking the extra month are granted almost without exception, and are so routine that the requesting party usually doesn’t even bother to ask for the consent of opposing counsel.

The same courtesy applies in the Business Court, but there are rules to be followed.  Business Court Rule 9.2 says that "the movant shall have a good faith basis for requesting any such extension of time and, except in extraordinary cases, the movant shall first consult with any opposing party and reflect that party’s position in the motion and indicate whether the opposing party wishes to be heard on the motion."

If you don’t follow the Rules, you aren’t going to get your extension. That’s the message of a short ruling today in Velocity Fiber Broadband, LLC v. Lang Management, Inc., in which the required consultation hadn’t occurred.  Judge Jolly, in denying the plaintiff’s motion to respond to a counterclaim, stated "notwithstanding that the . . . reporting requirements of Rule 9.2 of the Business Court Rules may be viewed by some as merely a technicality and not substantive, the requirements are clear and simple, and compliance with them promotes efficiency in case administration by the court and counsel."

There are hyperlinked Business Court Rules available on the sidebar of this blog.  By hyperlinked, I mean that you can click on a section of the table of contents of the Rules and you’ll get taken to the particular Rule, and then you can click back again.