There are no required pleadings in assigned small claim actions other than the complaint. Answers and counterclaims may be filed by the defendant in accordance with G.S. 7A-218 and G.S. 7A-219. Any new matter pleaded in avoidance in the answer is deemed denied or avoided. On appeal from the judgment of the magistrate for trial de novo before a district judge, the judge shall allow appropriate counterclaims, cross claims, third party claims, replies, and answers to cross claims, in accordance with G.S. 1A-1, et seq.
N.C. Gen. Stat. § 7A-220
No required pleadings other than complaint
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case 140 N.C. App. 258 - Fickley v. Greystone Enterprises, Inc. (2000)
Most recently applied in 265 N.C. App. 199 - J. S. & Assocs., Inc. v. Stevenson (May 2019)
1965, c. 310, s. 1; 1987, c. 628.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: North Carolina General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain North Carolina statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.