I filed a written motion but forgot to attach proof that I served a copy on the other side — will the court still rule on it?

Proof of service as a precondition to action

This provision sets a genuinely hard gate on the court's own ability to act: no written motion shall be acted upon by the court without proof of service. The absence of that proof is not treated as some minor, easily overlooked defect the court can simply set aside while ruling on the motion's underlying merits — its absence blocks the court from acting on the motion in any way at all.

Why proof of service is treated this strictly

A motion asks the court to grant relief that can genuinely affect the opposing party's rights, or the overall progress and direction of the case itself. If the opposing party was never actually given proper notice through legitimate service, ruling on the motion anyway would effectively deny that party the fair, meaningful opportunity to respond that the entire body of Rules on motions is deliberately built around protecting.

What this means practically for a filer

A litigant who files a written motion but happens to omit the accompanying proof of service should reasonably expect that motion to sit unacted upon by the court, rather than being quietly and favorably ruled on by some kind of default. Attaching complete and proper proof of service is therefore not a mere afterthought, but a genuinely functional requirement for the motion to be considered at all by the court. The practical fix, when the omission is caught, is simply to file and serve the missing proof; the rule bars action on the motion until that proof exists, not the motion itself from ever being cured.

How this connects to the rest of the Rule on motions

This requirement ties directly into the broader overall structure of how motions are meant to function throughout this Rule — motions generally require notice to, and a fair opportunity to be heard by, the opposing party, and proof of service is precisely what documents that the opposing party was actually and properly given that notice before the court ever proceeds to act. Read together with the surrounding sections on notice and hearing, Section 7 functions as the enforcement mechanism for that broader notice requirement: it is the specific consequence that attaches when a motion is filed without the proof needed to show the requirement was actually met.

Related provisions

• Rule 15, Section 7 — Proof of service necessary
• Rule 15, Section 6 — Notice of hearing on litigious motions; discretionary
• Rule 15, Section 8 — Motion day