RULE 25. FILING AND SERVICE
Effective Date: 3/1/1999
Obsolete Date: 3/1/2003
(a) Filing. Papers required or permitted to be filed in the supreme court must be filed with the clerk. Filing may be accomplished by mail or delivery addressed to the clerk, but filing is not timely unless the papers are received by the clerk within the time fixed for filing. However, briefs, appendices, transcripts, and petitions for rehearing are deemed filed on the day of mailing or deposit with a third-party commercial carrier. Papers may not be filed with the clerk of the supreme court by means of facsimile transmission. If a motion requests relief that may be granted by a single justice, the justice may receive the motion for filing. If this occurs, the justice shall note on the motion the date of filing and transmit it to the clerk.
(b) Service of All Papers Required. Copies of all papers filed by any party and not required by these rules to be served by the clerk, at or before the time of filing, must be served by a party or person acting for that party on all other parties to the appeal or review. Service on a party represented by counsel must be made on counsel.
(c) Manner of Service. Service may be personal, by mail, or via a third-party commercial carrier. Personal service includes delivery of the copy to a clerk or other responsible person at the office of counsel. Service by mail is complete upon mailing. Service via a third-party commercial carrier is complete upon deposit of the paper to be served with the commercial carrier.
(d) Proof of Service. Papers presented for filing must contain an acknowledgment of service by the person served or proof of service by the person who made service. Proof of service may appear on or be affixed to the papers filed. The clerk may permit papers to be filed without acknowledgment or proof of service but shall require acknowledgment or proof of service to be filed promptly thereafter.
Rule 25 was amended, effective January 1, 1988; on an emergency basis, September 5, 1990; on an emergency basis, November 16, 1994; March 1, 1996; March 1, 1999; March 1, 2003; March 1, 2008; March 1, 2011; October 1, 2014; March 1, 2019; March 1, 2022; August 1, 2023; April 8, 2024.
This rule is derived from Fed.R.App.P. 25. Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 1999, to allow the use of a third-party commercial carrier as an alternative to the Postal Service. The phrase "commercial carrier" is not intended to encompass electronic delivery services.
Subdivision (a) provides documents are not considered filed until they are received by the clerk of the supreme court.
Rule 25, effective March 1, 2003, allows the court to accept documents filed by electronic means.
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2019, to require electronic filing by all parties other than self-represented litigants and prisoners and to eliminate most fees that applied specifically to electronic filing.
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2019, to add requirements for documents filed electronically.
Rule 25 was amended, effective August 1, 2023, to clarify that hard page breaks must separate the cover, table of contents, table of cases, and body of all briefs.
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2008, to provide for service by electronic means.
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2011, to change the reference from "calendar days" to "days."
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2019, to require electronic service of documents filed electronically except when a self-represented litigant or prisoner cannot accept electronic service.
Rule 25 allows proof of service by admission of service, affidavit of service, or certificate of an attorney.
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2003, in response to the December 1, 1998, amendments to Fed. R. App. P. 25. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.
Rule 25 was amended, effective October 1, 2014, to replace "supreme court clerk" with "clerk of the supreme court" and "paper" with "document."
Rule 25 was amended, effective March 1, 2022, to remove references to the appendix.
Rule 25 was amended, effective, April 8, 2024, upon the adoption of the supreme court’s electronic filing system. Unless otherwise exempted under the rule, parties are required to electronically file and serve documents with the clerk of the supreme court.
SOURCES: Supreme Court Rulemaking of April 3, 2024; March 12, 2024; Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 28, 2023, pages 11-13; September 30, 2021, pages 2-9; April 27, 2018, pages 2-4; January 25, 2018, pages 11-12; September 26, 2013, page 22-24; April 29-30, 2010, page 20; January 25, 2007, page 17;April 25-26, 2002, pages 3-5; April 26-27, 2001, page 10; April 30-May 1, 1998, page 3; January 29-30, 1998, page 21; January 26-27, 1995, pages 6-7; September 29-30, 1994, page 12; February 19-20, 1987, pages 6-7; September 18-19, 1986, pages 14-15; May 25-26, 1978, page 10; March 16-17, 1978, pages 3-4. Fed.R.App.P. 25.
STATUTES AFFECTED:
SUPERSEDED: N.D.C.C. § 28-27-05.
CROSS REFERENCE: N.D.R.App.P. 10 (The Record on Appeal); N.D.R.App.P. 26(c) (Computing and Extending Time).