Amendments to procedural rules effective March 1 Wednesday, March 4, 2020
Effective March 1, the Supreme Court adopted amendments to the Rules of Civil Procedure, Criminal Procedure, Appellate Procedure and Evidence.
The explanatory note of Civil Procedure Rule 39.1 on changing the location of a hearing, proceeding, or trial has been amended to list the statutes that were superseded by the rule and the statutes that were considered in the course of drafting the rule.
Rule 39.1 was intended to supersede the venue statutes that existed at the time of its adoption in 2002 and its explanatory note states: "The rule incorporates and supersedes statutory provisions governing change of venue." The specific statutes superseded were not listed in the rule when it was adopted and the March 1 amendment corrects this omission.
Criminal Procedure Rule 37 on appeals to district court from municipal court has been amended to provide details on the district court's scope of review and action in an appeal from municipal court. The new rule language specifies that "The district court, at any time after an appeal is taken, may: (1) hear a motion to dismiss the appeal, (2) conduct a trial anew and affirm, reverse, modify or vacate the municipal court judgment or order, (3) correct an illegal sentence or a sentence imposed in an illegal manner; and (4) order judgment to be entered in the district court."
Extensive form and style amendments are now part of the model form for Appendix (A), which lists conditions for a sentence to probation and deferred or suspended sentences. The amendments were designed to improve the language and organization of the form so that it can be more easily understood, especially by criminal defendants.
In changes to the Rules of Appellate Procedure, the explanatory notes of Rule 2.2 on termination of parental rights and Rule 4 on when an appeal must be taken have been amended to make it clear that all appeals from orders terminating parental rights must be expedited, including appeals under N.D.C.C. ch. 14-15.1 on child relinquishment.
Appellate Procedure Rule 10 governing the record on appeal was amended to require a party to designate how many electronic or paper copies of the transcript are to be prepared and to identify who is to receive which type of copy. The amendments also require electronic transcript copies to be in portable document format (PDF).
The appellate rule on identity protection, Rule 14, was amended to specify that privacy protections in Rule of Court 3.4, in the North Dakota Century Code, and the North Dakota Constitution must be complied with on appeal in all filed documents, at oral argument and in opinions. Attorneys should keep in mind that under Rule 3.4(b), "[a] party or nonparty making a filing with the court is solely responsible for ensuring that protected information does not appear on the filing."
Appellate Procedure Rule 21 on writs was amended to clarify that a response to a writ petition is allowed only when requested by the court.
Rule of Evidence 615 on excluding witnesses was amended to replace the word "statute" with "law" in subdivision (d). The amendment was made in response to Marsy's Law, N.D. Const. Art. I, § 25, which provides that crime victims have a right to be present at all proceedings to which they are connected. Under the amendment, Rule 615 would not authorize the exclusion of victims from applicable proceedings.
Language was deleted from Rule of Court 5.4 on petitions for restoration of firearms rights consistent with amendments to N.D.C.C. § 62.1-02-01.1(1). The deleted language refered to petitions to restore firearm rights for felonies of another state or the federal government. Under the revised statute, such petitions must now be filed “in the venue where the rights of the individual were revoked.”