Kan. Stat. § 59-2408
Except as provided for in K.S.A. 59-2401a, and amendments thereto, whenever an appeal has been taken from an order, judgment, decree or decision of a district magistrate judge, the district judge to which the appeal is assigned by the chief judge, without unnecessary delay, shall proceed to hear and determine all issues in the matter de novo and shall allow and may require pleadings to be filed or amended. The right to file new pleadings shall not be abridged or restricted by the pleadings filed, or by failure to file pleadings, in the proceedings before the district magistrate judge; nor shall the trial or the issues to be considered by the district judge be abridged or restricted by any failure to appear or by the evidence introduced, or the absence or insufficiency thereof, in the proceedings before the district magistrate judge.
K.S.A. 59-2408