Rule 1-063 Inability of a judge to proceed.

If a judge gets sick, retires, or otherwise can't finish a trial or hearing that's already started, another judge can step in and take over. Before doing this, the new judge has to read through the case record and confirm they understand what's happened so far. They also need to be sure that switching judges won't hurt either side's chance at a fair outcome.

Once the new judge takes over, they have the option to call witnesses back to testify again if needed. This gives the judge a chance to hear testimony directly, rather than relying only on written records, if they think that's necessary to fully understand the case. The goal is to let the trial continue smoothly without forcing everyone to start over from scratch.