Rule 7 - Administrative Responsibilities A district court, statutory county court, or business court judge must:
(a) diligently discharge the administrative responsibilities of the office;(b) rule on a case within three months after the case is taken under advisement;(c) if an election contest or a suit for the removal of a local official is filed in the judge's court, request the presiding judge to assign another judge who is not a resident of the county to dispose of the suit;(d) on motion by either party in a disciplinary action against an attorney, request the presiding judge to assign another judge who is not a resident of the administrative region where the action is pending to dispose of the case;(e) request the presiding judge to assign another judge of the administrative region to hear a motion relating to the recusal or disqualification of the judge from a case pending in his court; and(f) to the extent consistent with due process, consider, using methods to expedite the disposition of cases on the docket of the court, including: (1) adherence to firm trial dates with strict continuance policies;(2) the use of teleconferencing, videoconferencing, or other available means in lieu of personal appearance for motion hearings, pretrial conferences, scheduling, and other appropriate court proceedings;(3) pretrial conferences to encourage settlements and to narrow trial issues;(4) taxation of costs and imposition of other sanctions authorized by the Rules of Civil Procedure against attorneys or parties filing frivolous motions or pleadings or abusing discovery procedures; and(5) local rules, consistently applied, to regulate docketing procedures and timely pleadings, discovery and motions.Amended by order dated March 10, 2023, effective 4/1/2023; amended February 6, 2024, effective 9/1/2024.