Why Certificates of Service are important

In my experience, many lawyers file Court Orders and fail to attach or file a Certificate of Service. Under Rule 5 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, a Certificate of Service must accompany every pleading (including orders) filed with the Court.  The Rule states:

“A certificate of service shall accompany every pleading and every paper required to be served on any party or nonparty to the litigation, except with respect to pleadings and papers whose service is governed by Rule 4. The certificate shall show the date and method of service or the date of acceptance of service and shall show the name and service address of each person upon whom the paper has been served.”

The purpose is to show unto the Court that the other party was actually served with the order and how it was served.

Within our Rules of Civil Procedure, there are many deadlines.  You only have 10 days after an order is filed to request a new trial under Rule 59; there are certain time limits under Rule 60 to request a new trial and you generally only have thirty days to file a notice of appeal.  Our Court of Appeals has found that the time for filing a notice of appeal is tolled until a Certificate of Service is filed. See Rice v. Coholan, __ N.C.App. ___, 695 S.E.2d 484, 489-90 (2010).  The failure to include a Certificate of Service could possibly toll the period to file a motion for a new trial.  See Stem v. Richardson, 350 N.C. 76, 78, 511 S.E.2d 1, 2 (1999).

So if you have court orders that have no certificate of service, that could be a problem in the future or a possible “loophole” if you have missed a deadline to complain of the order you received.