What Is an Alias and Pluries Summons in North Carolina?

An alias and pluries summons in North Carolina is a reissued summons that keeps a lawsuit alive when the original was not served on the defendant within the 60-day service window. Under Rule 4 of the North Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff has 90 days from the date the last summons was issued (or last endorsed by the clerk) to request a new one. Miss that 90-day window and the action is discontinued by operation of law, which can be fatal to the claim if the statute of limitations has run.¹

What the Two Terms Mean

Rule 4(d) uses the phrase “alias or pluries summons” as a single concept. Traditionally, an alias summons is the first replacement issued after the original expires, and a pluries summons is any reissuance after that. North Carolina treats them identically. The procedures, fees, and deadlines are the same no matter how many times the summons has been renewed.¹

There is also a simpler option. Instead of requesting a brand-new summons, the plaintiff can ask the clerk to endorse the original. An endorsement carries the same legal effect and the same deadlines as a new alias or pluries summons, and plaintiffs can switch between the two methods freely over the life of a case.¹

The 60-Day and 90-Day Clocks

Two deadlines run at once, and they do not match.

Once a summons is issued, the plaintiff has 60 days to serve it on the defendant. After day 60, the summons goes dormant and cannot be validly served.

The window to keep the case alive runs a little longer. The plaintiff has 90 days from the date the last summons was issued, or from the date of the last endorsement, to request a new alias or pluries summons or get a fresh endorsement from the clerk. Act within that 90-day window and the chain survives: a new summons starts a fresh 60 days to serve, and a fresh 90 days to renew again if needed.¹

There is no statutory cap on the number of renewals. A plaintiff can, in theory, keep extending indefinitely. Courts do look harder at long strings of renewals when it appears the plaintiff is stalling rather than genuinely trying to find and serve the defendant.

Two Exceptions That Stretch the Window to Two Years

The 90-day rule has two carve-outs. Tax and assessment foreclosure cases get two years for the first extension, then revert to the normal 90-day schedule for any further renewals. Cases that require service on a defendant outside the United States get two years for each extension in the chain.¹

What Happens If the Chain Breaks: Discontinuance

Rule 4(e) does the damage automatically. If the plaintiff lets the 90-day renewal window close without obtaining a new summons or an endorsement, the lawsuit is discontinued as to any defendant who has not been served. No motion, no court order. The discontinuance takes effect the moment the deadline passes.¹

Discontinuance is not the same as dismissal. The plaintiff can still ask the clerk to issue a new alias or pluries summons after the gap. The problem is what that costs. The action is now deemed to have commenced on the date of the later issuance or endorsement, not on the original filing date. If the statute of limitations expired during the gap, the claim is gone. The original filing no longer protects the plaintiff.¹

The North Carolina Court of Appeals applied this rule in Dozier v. Crandall. The plaintiff let the summons chain lapse. The court held that the action commenced on the later alias summons date, and because more than three years had passed since the cause of action arose, the claim was time-barred and properly dismissed.²

The practical point: filing the complaint tolls the statute of limitations only as long as the plaintiff keeps an unbroken chain of timely summonses or endorsements. One missed 90-day window undoes that protection.

How to Request an Alias or Pluries Summons

The plaintiff or their attorney requests the new summons from the clerk of court in the county where the lawsuit was filed. This is usually a routine administrative step using a standardized court form. The clerk confirms that the prior summons was issued but not served, then issues the new one.

North Carolina charges a $15 fee for issuing an alias or pluries summons or for endorsing the original.³ Each attempt at service through the sheriff’s office costs $30 per item of process served, with only one $30 fee charged when multiple items are served on the same person at the same time.⁴ Costs add up quickly across multiple rounds of issuance and attempted service.

Serving the Reissued Summons

An alias or pluries summons must be served within 60 days of issuance using the same methods allowed for the original summons under Rule 4(j): personal delivery, certified or registered mail with return receipt, a designated delivery service authorized under federal law, or USPS signature confirmation, depending on the type of defendant.¹

If the sheriff returns the summons unexecuted, the plaintiff is not stuck with the sheriff’s office. Rule 4(h1) allows any person who is at least 21, is not a party to the lawsuit, and is not related by blood or marriage to a party or to the person being served to complete service. That opens the door to private process servers for hard-to-locate defendants.¹

If You Were Served With an Alias or Pluries Summons

A defendant who receives an alias or pluries summons has the same obligations as someone served with the original. Rule 12(a) gives you 30 days from service to file an answer. Missing that deadline exposes you to a default judgment, where the court can rule against you based on the plaintiff’s allegations without a trial.⁵

Before responding on the merits, check how the plaintiff got from the original summons to the one in your hand. Common defects that can support a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b) include a summons served after its 60-day window closed, a gap in the chain of renewals that caused discontinuance (especially if the statute of limitations ran during the gap), a method of service not authorized for your type of defendant, and a long record of renewals with no real effort to locate or serve you. Most of these defenses are waived if you do not raise them in your initial response, so moving quickly matters.

1
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 1A-1 – Rule 4 Process
2
Justia. Dozier v. Crandall
3
North Carolina General Assembly. Court Costs and Fees Chart
4
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 7A-311 – Uniform Civil Process Fees
5
North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 1A-1 – Rule 12 Defenses and Objections