A wreck with a driver from Virginia or Ontario leaves the injured person with a defendant who drove home. North Carolina handles that with a small set of statutes that work together. The sections below take court power first, then serving the papers, the driver who moves away after the wreck, the deadline, the coverage on your own policy and where the case is filed.
G.S. 1-75.4(3) gives North Carolina courts power over the visiting driver
G.S. 1-75.4(3) gives a North Carolina court power over a defendant in an action for injury to person or property or for wrongful death that arises out of that defendant's act or omission within North Carolina. Driving that causes a wreck on a North Carolina road is an act within the state. Subdivision (3) does not mention where the defendant lives.
G.S. 1-75.4 separates jurisdiction of the subject matter, which the court must already have, from jurisdiction over the person served. The opening paragraph of G.S. 1-75.4 ties that power to a defendant served under Rule 4(j), Rule 4(j1) or Rule 4(j3) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure. Service is the step that opening paragraph requires, and the next two sections cover how it is done.
G.S. 1-75.4(3) turns on where the defendant's act or omission took place, and the injury it covers can be within or without North Carolina.
I would start with where the wreck happened and not with where the other driver lives.
I would start with where the wreck happened and not with where the other driver lives.
How do the lawsuit papers reach a driver in another state?
Rule 4(j) of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure sets the manner of service of process within or without the State. For a natural person, Rule 4(j)(1) lists five methods.
| Rule | Method | How it reaches a driver in another state |
|---|---|---|
| 4(j)(1)a | Delivering the summons and complaint to the person, or leaving copies at the defendant's dwelling house or usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion then residing there | Rule 4(a) lets a nonparty not less than 21 years of age serve outside North Carolina, or anyone authorized to serve summons by the law of that place |
| 4(j)(1)b | Delivering to an agent authorized by appointment or by law, or serving that agent or the party in a manner specified by any statute | The route G.S. 1-105 uses, with the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles as the agent |
| 4(j)(1)c | Registered or certified mail, return receipt requested | Mailed to the driver's address in the other state |
| 4(j)(1)d | A designated delivery service authorized under 26 U.S.C. 7502(f)(2), with a delivery receipt | The service delivers to the addressee and a delivery receipt is obtained |
| 4(j)(1)e | Mailing by signature confirmation from the United States Postal Service | Addressed to the party to be served and delivered to the addressee |
Rule 4(j)(1)b is the link between the rule book and the nonresident driver statute. It allows serving process upon an agent authorized by law, or upon the party, in a manner specified by any statute. G.S. 1-105 is a statute of that kind for a nonresident driver.
A driver who refuses the certified letter sent under G.S. 1-105 has not stopped service. The statute sets a completion date for a refused letter, and the northeast North Carolina page covers it.
The Commissioner route under G.S. 1-105, from filing to continuance
G.S. 1-105(a) treats a nonresident's driving in North Carolina as a signification of that driver's agreement that process served through the North Carolina Commissioner of Motor Vehicles has the same legal force as personal service. The western North Carolina page walks through the fee and the mailing for a Tennessee driver. The steps below add what follows the mailing.
Leave the process with the Commissioner
A copy of the process goes into the hands of the Commissioner of Motor Vehicles, or into the Commissioner's office, with the fee G.S. 1-105(a) sets.
Send notice forthwith by certified or registered mail
G.S. 1-105(a) requires notice and a copy of the process to be sent forthwith to the defendant. The plaintiff or the Commissioner sends it.
Read the delivery date off the return receipt
When the letter is delivered, the entries on the defendant's return receipt are sufficient evidence of the delivery date. Service on the defendant is deemed completed on that date.
Append the receipt and affidavits to the summons
The return receipt, or the original envelope bearing a postal notation that receipt was refused, goes with the plaintiff's affidavits. G.S. 1-105(a) requires them to be appended to the summons and filed with it.
The court allows the defendant time to defend
G.S. 1-105(a) directs the court to order such continuance as is necessary to afford the defendant reasonable opportunity to defend the action.
G.S. 1-105(a) also covers a motor vehicle operated in North Carolina for the nonresident or under the nonresident's control or direction, express or implied.
Exception. Service on a defendant in a place not within the United States, such as a driver in Canada, falls under G.S. 1-105(b). The Commissioner requires the one hundred dollar fee for that service, and the statute allows delivery by private carrier with proof of actual delivery to the defendant for personal service.
The other driver lived here and moved away after the wreck
G.S. 1-105.1 extends the Commissioner route in G.S. 1-105 to a driver who was a resident of North Carolina at the time of the accident or collision and left afterward. The statute names two situations. Either one brings the nonresident driver rules into the case.
Residence set up in another state
The driver establishes residence outside North Carolina after the accident or collision. The papers then go through the Commissioner the same way they would for a driver who never lived here.
Gone for 60 continuous days or more
The driver departs North Carolina after the accident or collision and remains absent for 60 days or more, continuously. G.S. 1-105.1 applies whether the absence is intended to be temporary or permanent.
A driver who was a North Carolina resident at the time of the collision and leaves in either way G.S. 1-105.1 names is served through the same Commissioner route as a visitor.
Does the deadline pause while the driver is out of state?
G.S. 1-21 is the North Carolina statute that stops counting a defendant's time out of the state toward the deadline, and its last sentence limits that rule. The section does not apply to the extent that a North Carolina court has or continues to have jurisdiction over the person under G.S. 1-75.4.
What G.S. 1-21 says about a defendant who leaves
G.S. 1-21 covers a person who departs from and resides out of North Carolina after a cause of action accrues, or who remains continuously absent for one year or more. For that person the time of absence is not part of the time limited for starting the action.
The G.S. 1-75.4 sentence that closes G.S. 1-21
The last sentence of G.S. 1-21 says the provisions of the section shall not apply to the extent that a court of this State has or continues to have jurisdiction over the person under G.S. 1-75.4. G.S. 1-75.4(3), covered above, is the subdivision for an act or omission within this State, and its opening paragraph requires service under Rule 4(j), 4(j1) or 4(j3). I would treat the deadline as running and never count on the driver's absence to add time.
I would treat the deadline as running and never count on the driver's absence to add time.
The post on an injury in a county where you do not live covers when each of those periods begins.
Your own uninsured motorist coverage when the visitor's insurance falls short
G.S. 20-279.21(b)(3) bars delivering a bodily injury liability policy in North Carolina for a vehicle registered or principally garaged here unless it protects the people it insures who are legally entitled to recover damages from owners or operators of uninsured motor vehicles and hit-and-run motor vehicles because of bodily injury. The requirement is written into your own policy. It says nothing about where the other driver lives.
| The other vehicle's insurance | How the statute treats the vehicle | Subdivision |
|---|---|---|
| No bodily injury and property damage liability insurance in at least the amounts in G.S. 20-279.5(c) | Uninsured motor vehicle | (b)(3) |
| Insurance exists but the company denies coverage or has become bankrupt | Uninsured motor vehicle | (b)(3) |
| The liability insurer is unable to make payment because of insolvency | Uninsured motor vehicle | (b)(3) |
| All bodily injury liability limits applicable at the time of the accident total less than the total damages sustained | Underinsured highway vehicle | (b)(4) |
Those amounts are the measure the uninsured definition uses. The post on the first meeting with an attorney covers underinsured motorist coverage and settlement papers signed early.
Exception. G.S. 20-279.21(b)(3) does not require uninsured motorist coverage on a policy that applies solely to commercial motor vehicles or solely to fleet vehicles.
Home county venue and the federal court exception
G.S. 1-82 says the action must be tried in the county where the plaintiffs, or any of them, reside when none of the defendants reside in North Carolina. For a North Carolina resident hurt by a visitor who is the only defendant, that is the injured person's home county. The Charlotte metro page applies the rule to a South Carolina driver.
When a visiting driver moves the case to federal court
A defendant who is a citizen of another state can sometimes take the case to federal court by removal. Federal district courts have original jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. 1332(a)(1) when the parties are citizens of different States and the amount in controversy exceeds the sum the statute sets. Under 28 U.S.C. 1441(b)(2) a case removable solely on that ground may not be removed if any properly joined and served defendant is a citizen of North Carolina, the state where it was brought.
Meeting an attorney after the other driver went home
Wherever you are in North Carolina, I can come to you. The first contact is a phone or video call. After that I meet you in person where you are. Whether we work together is decided in that meeting.
The how it works page lays out that sequence. The contact page is where to ask for the first call.
