Berry Brothers Corp. v. Adams-Millis Corp.

G.S. 1-568.11, applicable when complaint and answer have been filed, provides that a party, without notice to other parties, may apply “to the clerk or judge” for an order for the examination of designated persons; and, if the affidavit supporting the application sets out the requisite facts, that “the judge or clerk” shall make such order. G.S. 1-568.6 provides that “(t)he examination shall be held by a commissioner appointed by the judge or clerk.”

The “exclusion, separation, sequestration of witnesses, or 'putting witnesses under the rule,’ as the procedure is variously termed, is a matter…