Cushman v. Twentieth Judicial Dist. Court
Annotate this CaseThe case at issue in this proceeding was originally assigned to the Twentieth Judicial District Court Judge James Manley. Judge Deborah Christopher assumed jurisdiction after a defendant moved for substitution. At the request of Judge Christopher, Chief Justice Mike McGrath called in retired District Judge Douglas Harkin to preside over the case. The plaintiff subsequently requested substitution. In response, Judges Christopher and Manley entered an order returning jurisdiction to Judge Manley. Petitioner asked the Supreme Court to exercise supervisory control over the District Court by directing Christopher and Manley to vacate their order returning jurisdiction of the case to Judge Manley. Petitioner also asked that Chief Justice McGrath deny the motion to substitute judge filed by the plaintiff. The Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of supervisory control and ordered that Judge Manley assign a new judge to preside over the case, holding that specific assignments of retired judges under Mont. Code Ann. 19-5-103 are within the intended scope of the right to substitution under Mont. Code Ann. 3-1-804 and that the right of substitution applies.
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