On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of North Carolina published an order amending Appellate Rule 26.  New Appellate Rule 26 permits appellate documents filed in the trial court using Odyssey’s e-filing system to be served on opposing counsel using Odyssey’s system-wide service feature.   

Amended Rule 26 will protect trial attorneys who become accustomed to using Odyssey’s service feature for all Odyssey filings. Under the old version of Appellate Rule 26, appellate pleadings filed in the trial court, like a notice of appeal, had to be served by mail, email, or hand-delivery–even if the appellate pleading was e-filed in the trial court using Odyssey.

The order is retroactive to 13 February 2023—the day Odyssey went live.

Beware: The new service rule only applies to Odyssey-based e-filings–not Business Court e-filings. Also, documents e-filed in the appellate courts still need to be served by email, mail, or hand-delivery. (Okay, technically service can still be made using the State’s Courier/Interoffice mail system or Civil Rule 4. But in least in my world, most attorneys use the first three methods).

Big shout-out to the Supreme Court of North Carolina for this quick fix to its service rules to account for Odyssey,

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