Appeals

In an eviction action, tenants have the right to appeal the Magistrate’s judgment to District Court for a brand-new trial within 10 days after the judgment is entered. As soon as you become aware of an appeal, please click here to notify us immediately.

After we are made aware that a tenant has filed an appeal, and you agree to our representation, our office will file a Notice of Appearance with District Court. This Notice of Appearance is required for the clerk to send any necessary documents directly to our office.

The most important document the clerk will mail is the “Notice of Appeal Trial” or “Notice of Hearing” to inform the parties of the date and time of the appeal trial. Unlike in small claims court where we can call and schedule a court date, the clerk calendars all appeal trials and will then mail the parties the Notice. Please click here to forward any and all Notices you receive from the Court to us as soon as you receive them.

Typically, the clerk’s office will schedule the court date for the appeal 6-8 weeks after they receive the tenant’s notice of appeal.

*Please Note:  Once we undertake representation of the appeal, the case will be “locked” on the Nationwide website and any further actions in the matter will be managed by the attorney handling the appeal.  Please remain in contact directly with the Paralegal and the Attorney handling your appeal on any/all information you may have regarding the case.

In order to prepare for District Court, we must have the following documents immediately sent to us so the attorney can prepare all the necessary exhibits for trial:

• The full lease agreement;
• A current ledger;
• Any notices to the tenant regarding the breach of lease for which the eviction was filed.

If there are other issues with the tenant (i.e. maintenance issues, partial payments tendered, complaints filed with state agencies, demand notices sent after filing the eviction, etc.), you must notify the attorney immediately so they can be prepared to address such issues in court.

Discovery is the process by which parties involved in a lawsuit exchange evidence and information about the pending lawsuit.  During the discovery process, the parties can ask each other questions (called interrogatories), request documents (known as a request for production of documents), or request that the other party admit or deny certain things (known as a request for admission). Once served with discovery requests, the receiving party MUST respond within thirty (30) calendar days, otherwise the requesting party can seek additional remedies including a dismissal of the case.

A motion for summary judgment is a procedural request that asks the judge to decide the case based on the law, when there are no factual matters in dispute. Once we file a motion for summary judgment, our attorneys will argue the motion before the judge and request that a judgment be entered in your favor without the need for a lengthy trial.

YOU must check on the rent bond!

You can find out about the status of the rent bond payments by calling your courthouse or by taking advantage of the North Carolina eCourts portal. Contact information can be found on the eCourts Portal.

You will need to provide the clerk with the appeal case number so they can look it up for you.

If the tenant does not pay the rent bonds, you may be entitled to file a writ.

Please contact your appeal team if you are told by the Clerk that this tenant has NOT paid, and you wish to file a writ.

The timing of your trial varies county by county. Typically the cases are scheduled for trial 6-8 weeks out, but some are taking longer. Mecklenburg County could take as long as 6 or more months.

Once an appeal has been filed, it is up to the Clerk of Court to schedule the appeal for trial and to schedule all motions for hearing in the meantime. Our appeals team will contact you with ANY updates as we receive them from the Clerk. There is no way to expedite an appeal hearing, so if you have not heard from our team that means that the hearing has not yet been scheduled.

Yes; you must be present!  The trial procedure is much stricter in District Court so a person from the property must be present in court to testify about the tenant’s default. Therefore, a person from the property who is familiar with the case must be present at the court date with the tenant’s complete file. If we do not have that necessary witness in court to testify, the case is subject to being continued for at least another 30 days or even possibly dismissed by the Judge.

If the judgment is entered in your favor at the appeal trial, the tenant has 30 days to vacate the unit, and this will apply even if the tenant does not appear at the court date.  This 30-day vacate period also serves as the tenant’s appeal window to the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

The tenant is still required to pay any rent bonds that become due during the 30 days and their failure to do so will allow the writ of possession to be filed early. Otherwise, you must wait until the 30 days has expired before you can submit a request to file the writ.

Each county is different, but most courts will hold these rent bond payments until we have appeared at the District Court trial date and then disburse the monies to the Plaintiff (you) based on the outcome of the trial within 30 days of the filed Judgment Order.

If the court disburses any rent bond payments to you while we are waiting for the trial date, you may accept these payments without waiving your right to proceed with the eviction.

Once our team places a case on appeal status on the Nationwide Compliant website, it is no longer handled via that platform. You will not be able to request a writ via Nationwide and dismissing the case in Nationwide will not actually result in a dismissal being filed with the Court. For anything related to an appeal, please work directly with our appeals team.

After you have notified us of the appeal via our Contact form (choose “Case Appealed by Tenant” from the Department dropdown), our team will reach out to you. From that point forward, all communication should be with the Appeals team via email on the same thread that they started when they reached out to you. This way, all communication is kept in one place. Please do not delete that initial email but save it for future reference and to continue the conversation.