GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1999

S	1 

SENATE BILL 311

Short Title:  Modify Summons Under Rule 4.	(Public)

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Sponsors: Senator Miller.

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Referred to:  Judiciary II.

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March 10, 1999

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO MODIFY RULE 4 OF THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE TO EXTEND  THE LENGTH OF THE LIFE OF A SUMMONS AND TO ABOLISH ENDORSEMENT  AS A MEANS OF REVIVING A SUMMONS.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 1A-1, Rule 4(c) reads as rewritten:
"(c)	Summons –Time allowed for service. –  Subject to Rule 4(d), (d1), and (d2), personal service or substituted personal service of summons as prescribed by Rule 4(j)(1) a. and b. must be made within 90 days after the date of the issuance of summons, except that in tax and assessment foreclosures under G.S. 47-108.25 or G.S. 105-374 the time allowed for service is 120 days. 
(c1)	Summons – Return. –  When a summons has been served upon every party named in the summons, it shall be returned immediately to the clerk who issued it, with notation thereon of its 
service.  Failure to return a summons to the clerk after it has been served on every party named in the summons shall not invalidate the summons. If the summons is not served within the time allowed upon every party named in the summons, it shall be returned immediately upon the expiration of the time allowed by the officer to the clerk of the court who issued it with notation thereon of its nonservice and the reasons as to every party not served, but failure to comply with this requirement shall not invalidate the summons."
Section 2.  G.S. 1A-1, Rule 4(d) reads as rewritten:
"(d)	Summons –Extension of time for serving. – When any defendant in a civil action is not served with the original summons within the time allowed for service under Rule 4(c), the action may be continued in existence as to that unserved defendant by 
		the plaintiff suing out an alias or pluries summons within 90 days after the issuance of the original summons.  The alias or pluries summons shall be returned in the manner prescribed under Rule 4(c1).  Subsequent alias or pluries summons, returnable in the same manner as the original summons, may be sued out at any time within 90 days after the date of issuance of the last preceding summons in the chain of summonses.
 (d1)	Summons – Extension of time for serving in tax and assessment foreclosures. –  In tax and assessment foreclosures under G.S. 47-108.25 and G.S. 105-374, an alias or pluries summons may be sued out at any time within two years after the issuance of the original summons.  After the issuance of such alias or pluries summons, the chain of summonses may be kept up as in any other action.
 (d2)	Summons – Extension of time for serving defendant not within the Unites States. –  For service upon a defendant in a place not within the United States at the time the action is commenced, an alias or pluries summons may be sued out at any time within two years after the issuance of the original summons.  After the issuance of such alias or pluries summons, the chain of summonses may be kept up as in any other action if sued out within two years of the last preceding summons in the chain of 
summonses."
Section 3.  G.S. 1A-1, Rule 4(e) reads as rewritten:
"(e)	Summons  – Discontinuance. – When an alias or pluries summons is not issued within the time specified in Rule 4(d), (d1), and (d2),  the action is discontinued as to any defendant not theretofore served with summons within the time allowed. Thereafter, alias or pluries summons may issue, but, as to such defendant, the action shall be deemed to have commenced on the date of such issuance."
Section 4.  G.S. 1A-1, Rule 4(f) reads as rewritten:
"(f)	Summons – Date of multiple summonses. – If the plaintiff shall cause separate or additional summonses to be issued as provided in Rule 4(a), the date of issuance of that separate or additional summonses shall be considered the same as that of the original summons for purposes of alias or pluries summons under Rule 4(d), (d1), and (d2)."
Section 5.  G.S. 1A-1, Rule 4(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g)	Summons – Docketing by clerk. – The clerk shall keep a record in which the clerk shall note the day and hour of issuance of every summons, whether original, alias, or pluries.  When the summons is returned, the clerk shall note on the record the date of the return and the fact as to service or nonservice."
Section 6.  This act becomes effective October 1, 1999, and applies to causes of action filed on or after that date.