C O U R T ?

COURT TITLE
Before providing the year in parenthesis, we need to ask the following question:

CAN WE TELL WHAT COURT DECIDED THE CASE BY THE PUBLICATION ABBREVIATION?

In the citation you are creating, there is no way to tell which Federal District Court wrote the opinion. Thus, in this citation we do MUST provide the court in parenthesis. A capital "D" stands for "District." Thus, "D.Okla." stands for the U.S. District Court, District of Oklahoma. Some states are broken into multiple federal districts. For example, "N.D. Ga." stands for the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Georgia.

In the citaiton we are creating, the court is the U.S. District Court, Middle District of North Carolina. Now, add the court in parenthesis.