Rule 7 Motions; rulings to be written and filed

Any motions filed in a short trial case go to the short trial judge, who is the person responsible for hearing and deciding them. This keeps things simple, since one judge handles all the motion work for the case instead of passing it around to different judges.

When the judge makes a decision on a motion, that decision has to be written down. It's not enough for the judge to just announce a ruling out loud in court. The written ruling then gets filed with the district court clerk, so there's an official record of what was decided. This helps everyone involved, including both sides in the case, know exactly what was ruled and have proof of it for later if needed.