Understanding Your Deadline: Calculating Response Time in Oklahoma
If someone says I have 20 days to file a response or pleading, how do I calculate that time? I’m Tulsa criminal defense attorney James Wirth, and that’s the question that we have. It’s actually a pretty good question because there are rules under Oklahoma law for calculating time on deadlines like that. So if someone says 20 days, but it doesn’t exactly explain how that works.
What does this explain, specifically, an Oklahoma statute, Title 22, Section 2006? It notes that when we’re calculating time, the first day of the event does not count, but the last day does unless that day falls on a weekend, holiday, or other day when the court is closed. So obviously, if the court is closed, you can’t file your response or pleading. Does that mean you have to file it before the court closes? Luckily, it does the simplest solution, which is that if the court is closed on the deadline, your deadline moves to the next day that the court is open.
Key Statutes for Deadline Calculations
So if you are served on a particular day, let’s say on the first of the month, that day does not count, but the next day does. So the next day will be day 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, all the way to 20. If the 20-day falls on a time when the court is closed, then the deadline is the next day that the court is open. And that’s all, like I said, Title 12, Section 2006.
Now, you’re talking about a summons that has a 20-day deadline. What if it were a different deadline? Well, the same statute also talks about if the deadline is less than 11 days. If it’s less than 11 days, you don’t count dates where the court is closed. Weekends, holidays, and any other day the court is closed aren’t counted at all. Except there are some exceptions to the exception, where it lists particular statutes and deadlines that don’t.
Distinguishing Civil and Criminal Cases
So if you’re dealing with that circumstance, you want to read the statute, read the statutes referenced in the statute to see what your actual deadline is. Another thing is that these are the rules of civil procedure. This applies to civil cases, which include family law cases. However, it does not include criminal cases.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court is the law of the land related to cases involving civil matters, but we’ve got a bifurcated system in Oklahoma, so the highest court in the state of Oklahoma is the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals for criminal cases, and they interpret the timing and deadlines differently. So note, sometimes their rules are different and they’re more harsh, but this relates to Civil Code, Title 12, Section 2006.
Extending Deadlines: Reservation of Time
Now, since we are dealing with responding to a summons, some additional information that might be useful to you would be in Title 12, Section 2012, also as part of Oklahoma Pleading Code for Civil Procedure, and it notes that if you’re within that 20-day deadline and you need additional time, if you look at Subsection A1b, it says, within 20 days after the service of a summons of a petition, the defendant may file a reservation of time which shall extend the time to respond by 20 days.
You get an additional 20 days, but you don’t get it for free. By filing for that extension of 20 days, you are waiving certain defenses. Those defenses are a lack of jurisdiction over the person, improper venue, insufficiency of process, insufficiency of service of process, failure to state a claim for which relief can be granted, which includes statute of limitations issues, so you’ve got to be careful there, and a lack of capacity of the party to be sued.
Take Action: Schedule Your Strategy Session
If you’re not planning on making any of these defenses, you can file a request for an additional 20 days, and as long as you file it within your first 20 days, it’s automatically granted according to statute. We’ve actually, on our website, have a template form for that that people can use for free. But if you’re dealing with this situation, don’t just go online and grab some forms. You’re going to want to talk to an attorney to receive legal advice specific to your circumstances. To get that scheduled with an attorney at my office, you can go online to MakeLawEasy.com or call us at 918-879-1681. I’m Oklahoma felony attorney James Wirth, and thanks for watching.
