INTHE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MONTANA

ORDER

RE: RULES OF THE SUPREm COURT



### --- -
PER CURIAM: Pursuant to the power placed inthis Court 

### by Article VII, Section 

### 2, of the Constitution of the Stateof Montana, the Court has undertaken 

### a study with reference to the disqualification and substitution of judges. The Court
now proposes to adopt the following rule: DISQUALIFICATION OF JUDGES Any justice, judge, orjustice of thepeace must not 

### sit or 

### act inany action orproceeding: 

### 1. To which 

### he 

### is a party, or inwhich he 

### is interested; 

### 2. When he 

### is related to either party by consaguinity Lor affinity within the sixthdegree, computed accordiny to the rules of law; 

### 3. When he has been attorney or counsel in the action or proceeding for any party or when he rendered or made the judgment, order or decision appealed from. SUBSTITUTION OF JUDGES A motion for 

### a substitution of 

### a judge may 

### be made by any party to

### a District Court proceeding. In

### a civil. case, each adverse party 

### is entitled to two substitutians of a judge. In 

### a criminal case, the stateand each defendant 

### is entitled to one substjtution of a judge. A motion for substitution of 

### a judge shall. be madeby fii.inga writtenmotion for substitut.ii?nreading as follows: "The undersigned hereby moves for substit.ution of another judge for Judge

### --.

### - in this cause." The clerk of court shall immediately give notice thereof 

### to all parties and to the judge named in the motion. Upon fiiing this notice, the judge named inthe motion shall have 

### no further power to 

### act in t-he cause other than to call in anot.herjudge, which he shall do forthwith, and 

### to set the calendar. Where more than one di.syualificat.ion 

### is made, the judge most recently disqualified shall have the power to call ina successor judge, When a case 

### is filed ina multi-judge district:, 

### it shali be the duty 

### of the clerk of court to stamp the name 

### of the judge to which the case 

### is assiqned on the face of the summons, order to show cause, 

### or inforniation and allcopies therenf. Whenever a judge 

### is assi.gned a case for ten, consec~~t i1.w days and the atccirneys 

### of record on both sides have knowiedge 

### of the assj.gnment for that period of 

### time, and ifdr~rinq 

### thi~s 

### time no motion. for subst.itution of 

### a judge 

### i.s fi 

### ltd against him, 

### all rights tomove for substitution of
a judge shallbe deemed waived 

### by allparties, unless the presiding judge disqual.ifies himself thereafter 

### inwhich
case the right tomove for substitution of a judge 

### is reinstated and the ten-day period starts running anew. Whenever an acceptance of jurisdi-ction 

### is filed by a new judge, 

### it shall be the duty of the clerk of court ton1ai.L a copy of the acceptance of jurisdi-c-tionto the origi.nal jud~ewhc firsthad jurisiiiction of the case, and a copy by certified

### mail with return rec:eipt requested toeach attorney of record. Service to

### an attorneymay be made by delivery of a copy personally 

### tc) the attorney, orby obtaining a written receipt from the attorney. Proof of service shall be stapied to the acceptance (if jurj.sdiction 

### i.n !-.hefile. The c:Lerk of court sha1.l contact tile new judge accepting jurisdi-ction and rcyues

### t that judge tocomrnunica

### te will1 tile judqe having jurisdictiion in the firstinstance, so that calendaring can be expeditiously handied. When a new trial. isordered i.n any case, 

### whietlher by order of the Distri.ct Court or the Supreme Court, each adverse party shall be entit-led to fileone motion for substitution of a judge inthe manner provided herein, whet:her
or not. that party has previ.nusly filedniotions for subst.i.i;ution of 

### a judge. Such motions must be filed:
a. If t-he new trial has been ordered by the Distrj-ctCourt, within ten days after the 

### time for appealing the order has elapsed. b. If the new trial has been ordered 

### by the Supreme Court, within 

### ten days after notice of receipt of the remittitur has been received by the respective parti"es from the clerk of the District Court. DISQUALIFICATIONFOR CAUSE Whenever 

### a party to any proceeding inany Court: makes and files a timely and sufficient affidavit 

### that 

### a judge or justice of the peace before whom the matter 

### is pending has 

### a persona.1bias or prejudice either against.him
or in favor of any adverse party, such judge 

### or justice 

### of thepeace shallproceed no further therein, but in the case

### of a districtjudge, another district judge shall be assigned by tlze chi.ef justi.ce of the Supreme Court tohear such dis- ~1ualifi.cation prticeeding and in the 

### case an affidavit 

### is against 

### a justice of the peace, police ormunicipal judqe, any di.strictjudge may appoint.another justice of the peace, police ormunicipal judge to hear such proceeding. The affidavit shall stat.e the facts and the reasons for the belief that bias orprejudi-ce

### exists, and shall be filednot 

### less than twenty days before the original.date 

### of trial, 

### or good cause shai.1.be shown forfailure to file i.twi.thin such 

### time. It shall be accompanied by 

### a certificate of counse3 of record stating that ithas been made in good faith. None of the provisions of this rule shall appiy t.0 any person inany cause involving 

### a directcontempt of court.

# . When 

### a person :i.s charged with indirect contempt.of cour-t, 

### he shall be entitled 

### tci fileone motion for substit-ution of a judge inthe manner prov.ided herein, whether or not thatparty has previou:;ly filedmotions for substilrution of 

### a judge. Such 

### a moti.on must be fi.led.withi.n t.en days of tile charge of indirect contempt of court. In that event, the judge of the court against which the contempt i

### s aiieqed 

### tohave been cornmitt-ed shall notify the chief justice of the Supreme Court who shall appoint another districtjudqe to hear and decide the charge. This rule supersedes and 

### is to be used 

### to khe exclusion of sections 93-901, 93-2906 

### (4)' 93-2907, 93-6602 (2) and 95-1709, R.C.M. 1947. Pursuant toAr+icle

### VII, Section 2, 

### of the 1972Montana Constit.ution. It 

### is the intention of the Court tomake this rule effective on t-he 

### 1st day of July, 1981, and 

### it 

### is to apply to

### all actions filedon ur after that date.inorder thatmembers of the bench and bar 

### may have 

### an opportunity to familiarize themselves 

### wi.th the ru1.e IT IS ORDERED that

### a copy of this order be pub]-ished 

### inThe 

### -- Montana 

### --.Lawyer

. .. .published by the StatcBar of Montana. Should any member desire 

### t~express his views thereon, the Co~lrt 

### willbe pleased toaccept any such comments, 

### inwriting, fiLed insix copies with the chief justice 

### on or before the 

### 1st day of June, 

### 1981. 

### DATED this day of 

## """q 1981

. 

# s'

Ckilef Justice

.# ,/ I