Wisconsin Statutes
Wis. Stat. § 799.205 (2026)
Substitution of judge
✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
WI-LEGdocs.legis.wisconsin.gov
JustiaChapter on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
799.205(1)(1) Any party to a small claims action or proceeding may file a written request with the clerk of courts for a substitution of a new judge for the judge assigned to the case. The written request shall be filed on the return date of the summons or within 10 days after the case is scheduled for trial. If a new judge is assigned to the trial of a case, a request for substitution must be made within 10 days of receipt of notice of assignment, provided that if the notice of assignment is received less than 10 days prior to trial, the request for substitution must be made within 24 hours of receipt of the notice and provided that if notification is received less than 24 hours prior to trial, the action shall proceed to trial only upon stipulation of the parties that the assigned judge may preside at the trial of the action. Upon filing the written request, the filing party shall forthwith mail a copy thereof to all parties to the action and to the original judge.
799.205(2)(2) After the written request has been filed, the original judge shall have no further jurisdiction in the action or proceeding except to determine if the request is correct as to form and timely filed. If no determination is made within 7 days, the clerk shall refer the matter to the chief judge for the determination and reassignment of the action as necessary. If the request is correct as to form and timely filed, the named judge shall be disqualified and shall promptly request assignment of another judge under s. 751.03.
799.205(3)(3) Except as provided in sub. (4), no party is entitled to file more than one such written request in any one action, and any single such request shall not name more than one judge. For purposes of this subsection, parties united in interest and pleading together shall be considered as a single party, but the consent of all such parties is not needed for the filing by one such party of a written request.
799.205(4)(4) If upon an appeal from a judgment or order or upon a writ of error the appellate court orders a new trial or reverses or modifies the judgment or order as to any or all of the parties in a manner such that further proceedings in the trial court are necessary, any party may file a request under sub. (1) within 20 days after the entry of the judgment or decision of the appellate court whether or not another request was filed prior to the time the appeal or writ of error was taken.
799.205 HistoryHistory: 1971 c. 46, 137, 296, 307; 1977 c. 135; 1977 c. 187 s. 135; 1977 c. 449; 1979 c. 32 s. 66; Stats. 1979 s. 799.205; 1987 a. 151.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 2009–2022 · leading case: State v. Henley, 2010 WI 12 (Wis. 2009).
State v. Henley, 2010 WI 12 (Wis. 2009). “58 (4) addressing "Substitution of judge" in civil actions; Wis. Stat. § 799.205 (1) addressing "Substitution of judge" in small claims actions.”
Stewart, Timothy v. Rock Cnty. Courthouse Manager (W.D. Wis. 2022). “§ 799.205 (“A record of the proceeding shall be made and shall be limited to the time and location of the hearing, the parties, witnesses and attorneys present and the decision.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.