Relief from Judgment in North Carolina Civil Cases

A party to a civil action may seek relief from a final judgment or order of North Carolina’s trial courts for many reasons. Litigants often take their arguments to the state’s appellate division. But for many issues, the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure provide methods for first seeking relief directly from the trial courts themselves. These rules, presented in Chapter 1A of the North Carolina General Statutes, and North Carolina case law interpreting them, are the focus of this book.

The discussion proceeds in two parts.

• Part One covers motions for immediate post-trial relief.
• Part Two covers motions brought under Rule 60(b), which allows relief from a “final judgment, order, or proceeding” based on any of six specific grounds that are based largely in equity, and, in general, are discretionary.

The book concentrates on North Carolina case law, primarily cases that interpret the Rules of Civil Procedure governing these motions rather than cases discussing the common law upon which the rules are based or statutes that preceded them.