Rule 63 Disability of Judge

If the judge who handled your trial becomes unable to finish the job (because of death, illness, being out of state, or some other reason), another judge from that same court can step in and take care of what's left to be done. This might include things like signing orders or ruling on motions that come up after the trial.

But sometimes the new judge won't be able to properly finish those tasks. This can happen because the new judge wasn't there for the trial and doesn't know what was said or decided. In that case, the new judge has the power to order a new trial instead of trying to pick up where the first judge left off.

This rule exists so that a case doesn't get stuck just because something happens to the original judge. It gives the court a way to keep things moving, either by having another judge finish the work or by starting over with a new trial if that's the fairer option.