Rule 79.1.Special judge selection: city, town, and Marion county small claims courts

Rule 79 governs special judge selection in circuit, superior, and probate courts. Rule 79.1 is its counterpart for a different tier of Indiana courts — city courts, town courts, and the Marion County small claims court — and it is the exclusive method for selecting a special judge there. One difference stands out immediately: section (C) requires a motion for change of judge in these courts to be verified, with facts supporting the statutory basis for the change, even though Rule 76(B) allows an unverified, no-reason motion in circuit, superior, and probate courts. Section (B) carries over the same duty to notify the court promptly once such a motion is filed.

Sections (D) and (E) give the parties two paths to select a special judge without a formal panel process: they can agree on a specific eligible individual, whom the court then appoints, or, absent that kind of agreement, they can consent to let the presiding judge choose. Either way, the appointed special judge has twenty days to accept jurisdiction, appear, and qualify, and — unlike a special judge appointed under Rule 79 — is not entitled to the special judge fee described in Rule 79(J). Neither path applies in criminal proceedings.

When the parties cannot agree, sections (F) and (G) split by court type. In a city or town court, the case moves to the county, superior, or circuit court whose docket covers that city or town, at no added cost, and the receiving judge likewise draws no special judge fee. In the Marion County small claims court, the presiding judge instead builds a panel of three other Marion County small claims judges within two days of deciding a special judge is needed; each party gets to strike one name from the panel, with the moving party striking first and seven to fourteen days allowed for striking; a party who misses that deadline either loses the choice back to the presiding judge, if that party was the one who moved for the change, or has the clerk strike on their behalf, if not; and the case then transfers, at no added cost, to whichever judge remains — or, if that transfer proves impossible, to the small claims judge with the highest court identifier number who is not disqualified by interest or relationship.

Eligibility is narrower here than under Rule 79. Section (H) limits special judges in the small claims court itself to other small claims court judges, by statute. For city and town courts, eligibility opens up to any regular circuit, superior, probate, municipal, or county court judge, any senior judge, or any member of the state bar, unless that person already served as judge or sat on a selection panel in the case, is disqualified by interest or relationship, or is already serving the court in another official role, such as bailiff, reporter, referee, commissioner, or magistrate. Section (I) closes the rule by keeping the case with the appointed special judge or the receiving court for everything that follows — enforcement of the judgment and post-conviction relief included — unless a specific statute or rule says otherwise, or the special judge becomes unavailable through death, sickness, absence, or unwillingness to serve.