HB 267

Enacts new GS 42-36.4, providing as follows. Requires the clerk of superior court, without further petition or hearing, to enter an order requiring the expunction of all court records made in summary ejectment proceedings 30 days after the resolution of the proceedings if the proceedings are resolved in one of the following ways: (1) the proceedings are voluntarily dismissed before a magistrate's entry of an order for possession or (2) the proceedings are voluntarily dismissed prior to the district court's entry of an order of possession, provided that the proceedings have been withdrawn from small claims court and brought before the district court, or the proceedings have been moved to district court pursuant to an appeal for a trial de novo. When judgment is entered in favor of the defendant on the merits of the initial action, expunction is not automatic but the defendant may file a petition, and the clerk of superior court must, without a hearing, enter an order requiring all court records made in the summary ejectment proceedings to be expunged from the court files.