California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Ziller Electronics Lab GmbH v. Superior Court, 206 Cal.App.3d 1222, 254 Cal.Rptr. 410 (Cal. App. 1988):
An established exception to the general rule limiting reconsideration is that where the judge who made the initial ruling is unavailable to reconsider the motion, a different judge may entertain the reconsideration motion. (New Tech Developments v. Bynamics, Inc. (1987) 191 Cal.App.3d 1065, 1069-1070, 236 Cal.Rptr. 746.) This exception reconciles the jurisdiction of a trial court to reconsider and correct its erroneous interim rulings to achieve justice (Harth v. Ten Eyck (1941) 16 Cal.2d 829, 833-834, 108 P.2d 675) with the general rule's recognition of the comity between judges of a trial court. The proper procedure upon a motion for reconsideration or a renewed motion is for the second judge to direct the moving party to the judge who ruled on the first motion. If the original judge is unavailable, as in this case, the
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