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Rule H Applicability of the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure and the Alabama Rules of Evidence.

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Rule Text

The Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure and the Alabama Rules of Evidence shall apply to all matters not specifically addressed in these Rules.

[Effective 1-1-2017.]

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Here's a plain English summary of this rule:

If you're involved in an expedited civil action in Alabama, this rule fills in the gaps. It says that the special rules made just for expedited cases don't cover every single situation that might come up in your case. When something isn't specifically covered by those special expedited rules, the regular Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure and Rules of Evidence take over instead.

Think of it like this: the expedited rules are a shorter, faster set of instructions designed to move your case along quickly. But no rulebook can cover everything. So when a question comes up that the expedited rules don't answer, the court falls back on the standard rules that apply to all civil cases in Alabama.

This matters to you because it means your case isn't operating in some completely separate legal system. Most of the normal protections and procedures you'd expect in a regular lawsuit still apply. The expedited process just changes some specific things to make cases move faster, but everything else works the way it normally would in any Alabama civil case.

Committee Notes

Comments

If a point of procedural law is addressed by these Rules, then these Rules apply. If these Rules are silent on the point in question, then the Alabama Rules of Civil Procedure shall control.

It is recognized that the admission into evidence of affidavits, reports, or letters of experts, as provided in Rule E, would normally be improper as hearsay. However, the provisions in Rule E are essential to the proper functioning of the expedited system. Moreover, Rule 1101(a), Ala. R. Evid., allows variation from those rules where "other rules of the Supreme Court of Alabama" so provide. These Rules are such "other rules." The same applies to the authenticity of exhibits as provided in Rule G of these Rules.

Note from the reporter of decisions: The order adopting the Alabama Rules for Expedited Civil Actions effective January 1, 2017, including Justice Murdock's and Justice Shaw's special writings dissenting to that order, is published in that volume of Alabama Reporter that contains Alabama cases from 200 So. 3d.