RULE 26. COMPUTATION AND EXTENSION OF TIME
Effective Date: 3/1/2003
Obsolete Date: 3/1/2008
(a) Computing Time. The following rules apply in computing any period of time specified in these rules or in any local rule, court order, or applicable statute:
(1) Exclude the day of the act, event, or default that begins the period;
(2) Exclude intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays when the period is less than 11 days;
(3) Include the last day of the period unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday;
(4) As used in this rule, "legal holiday" means a day specified as a holiday in N.D.C.C. § 1-03-01.
(b) Extending Time. For good cause, the court may extend the time prescribed by these rules or by its order to perform any act, or may permit an act to be done after that time expires. The court may not extend the time to file a notice of appeal, except as authorized by law.
(c) Additional Time after Service by Mail or Commercial Carrier. When a party is required or permitted to act within a prescribed period after a paper is served by mail or third-party commercial carrier on that party, 3 days must be added to the prescribed period.
Rule 26 was amended, effective January 1, 1988; March 1, 1999; March 1, 2001; March 1, 2003; March 1, 2008; March 1, 2011; October 1, 2014. The explanatory note was amended, effective March 1, 2014; March 1, 2018.
Subdivision (a) was amended, effective March 1, 2011, to simplify and clarify the provisions that describe how deadlines are computed. Under the previous rule, intermediate weekends and holidays were omitted when computing short periods but included when computing longer periods. Under the amended rule, intermediate weekends and holidays are counted regardless of the length of the specified period.
Paragraph (a)(6) was amended, effective March 1, 2018, to clarify the definition of "legal holiday".
Under subdivision (b) , amended, effective March 1, 2003, any request for an extension of time should be made within the time originally prescribed or within an extension previously granted.
Subdivision (c) was amended, effective March 1, 2008, to clarify that, unless a document is delivered on the date of service as stated in the proof of service, three days are added to the prescribed period.
Subdivision (c) was amended, effective March 1, 2011, to clarify how to count the three-day extension for service by mail or commercial carrier. Under the amendment, a party that is required or permitted to act within a prescribed period should first calculate that period, without reference to the 3-day extension, but applying the other time computation provisions of these rules. After the party has identified the date on which the prescribed period would expire but for the operation of subdivision (c), the party should add 3 calendar days. The party must act by the third day of the extension, unless that day is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, in which case the party must act by the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday.
Subdivision (c) was amended, effective March 1, 2018, to remove service by electronic means from the modes of service that allow 3 added days to act after being served. Electronic service after business hours, or just before or during a weekend or holiday, may result in a practical reduction in the time available to respond. Extensions of time may be warranted to prevent prejudice.
Rule 26 was amended, effective March 1, 2003, in response to the December 1, 1998, amendments to Fed.R.App.P. 26. 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 26 was amended, effective October 1, 2014, to replace "paper" with "document."
SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of April 27, 2017, pages 5-7; January 26-27, 2017, pages 28-29; April 25-26, 2013, pages 26-27; April 29-30, 2010, page 20; January 25, 2007, pages 17-19; September 27-28, 2001, pages 4-5; January 27-28, 2000, pages 16-17; January 29-30, 1998, page 21; February 19-20, 1987, page 7; September 18-19, 1986, page 15; May 25-26, 1978, pages 11-12. Fed.R.App.P. 26.
STATUTES AFFECTED:
CONSIDERED: N.D.C.C. ch. 1-03.
CROSS REFERENCE: N.D.R.App.P. 25 (Filing and Service); N.D.Sup.Ct.Admin.Order 14 (Electronic Filing Pilot Project).