North Carolina Legal Overview: Durham The Durham metropolitan area in North Carolina is defined by the Census Bureau as covering Chatham, Durham, Orange and Person counties. It is officially known as the Durham-Chapel Hill, NC MSA and is part of the larger Raleigh-Durham-Cary CSA, or combined statistical area. This CSA is comprised of the Durham-Chapel Hill MSA, the Raleigh-Cary MSA, and the Dunn micropolitan area, which covers Harnett County. The superior courts in each county are the main trial courts. Listed below are the main cities in the Durham metro area.
Top North Carolina cities for Legal Issues: Durham
1. Durham County comes under the 14th Judicial District. The Durham County Superior Court, located in the city of Durham, is the main trial court with general jurisdiction over all cases filed in the county. The Durham County District Court has limited jurisdiction over misdemeanors and civil cases, which do not exceed $10,000. A small claims court handles matters not exceeding $5,000. Durham County also has a family and traffic court. Orange County, which comes under the 15B Judicial District, has courthouse locations in both Hillsborough and Chapel Hill.
Trending Legal Topics: Appeals against small claims court decisions in any of the four counties in the metro can be filed with the concerned county’s district court. An appeal against a superior or district court verdict must be filed with the Court of Appeals in Raleigh. This is an intermediate appellate court, whose ruling can only be overruled by the NC Supreme Court. A federal case in the Durham metro area must be filed with the Durham Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
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