You are here

LCrR 56.5 Reassignment of cases

56.5      Reassignment of cases

  1. Reassignment to promote judicial economy - The court may reassign cases from one judge to another (i) to equalize and balance workloads among judges; (ii) to assign cases to senior or visiting judges or remove cases from their dockets as necessary; (iii) to comply with the requirements of the Speedy Trial Act, or (iv) for other reasons of judicial economy. Any case may be reassigned under this rule from one judge to another judge with the consent of both judges. Cases may also be reassigned by administrative order of the Chief Judge if approved by a majority of active district judges.
  2. Reassignment of cognate cases
    1. Definition – Cognate cases are pending criminal actions that have substantial questions of fact or law in common such that their assignment to a single judge is likely to effect a substantial saving of judicial effort and to avoid wasteful and duplicative proceedings for the court and the parties.
    2. Procedure for reassignment – When a district judge determines that reassignment of cognate cases would serve the interests of justice and judicial economy, the judge will contact all other district judges to whom cognate cases have been assigned.  If all those judges agree to reassignment, the Chief Judge will enter an administrative order reassigning such cognate cases to the district judge with the earliest numbered case.  The administrative order may also provide for automatic assignment of future cognate cases to that district judge, and for an adjustment of future case assignments to that district judge to compensate for the increased workload.
Date Last Modified: 
January 1, 2019