Short answer. Largely, yes. A civil action may be ordinary or special, but both are governed by the rules for ordinary civil actions, subject to whatever specific rules are separately prescribed for that particular special civil action — the special rules modify the baseline rather than replace it entirely.
What the law says
A civil action may either be ordinary or special. Both are governed by the rules for ordinary civil actions, subject to the specific rules prescribed for a special civil action
Rule 1, Section 3 — Cases governed. Read the full provision →
The starting point is the ordinary rules
The framework groups every civil action, ordinary or special, under one starting set of rules: both are governed by the rules for ordinary civil actions. A special civil action is not carved out into its own separate system disconnected from the rest of civil procedure — pleadings, parties, service, and the general mechanics you would expect in any ordinary lawsuit still form the backbone of how it proceeds, and that baseline binds every civil action unless a specific rule displaces a piece of it.
What 'special' actually changes
What makes a special civil action special is that it is subject to the specific rules prescribed for that particular action on top of the ordinary framework. Those specific rules can adjust timelines, available defenses, or particular procedural steps for the type of case involved — an ejectment case is exactly the kind of action that carries its own specific, tailored rules layered onto the general procedure.
Why the distinction matters in practice
Because the general rules still apply unless a special rule says otherwise, you cannot assume that everything about an ordinary lawsuit is irrelevant just because your case is labeled a special civil action. The practical approach is to treat the ordinary rules as the default and then check what the specific rules for that type of action add, remove, or modify — rather than expecting an entirely different procedural world — missing that a special rule modified a step is a common way deadlines get miscounted in practice.
A civil action either way, not a criminal or special proceeding
It also helps to know what a special civil action is not. The same framework distinguishes a civil action — by which a party sues another for the enforcement or protection of a right, or the prevention or redress of a wrong — from a criminal action prosecuted by the State, and from a special proceeding, which seeks to establish a status, a right, or a particular fact rather than to enforce one against an opposing party.