(a) Assignment of Actions.

Subject to Rule 295 of the Illinois Supreme Court, any action may be assigned to any judge or associate judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County for hearing or trial, regardless of the department, division or district in which the case was filed or to which the judge is regularly assigned. Any action or proceeding may be heard or tried in any courtroom in the Circuit Court of Cook County, regardless of the department, district or division in which the case was filed or for which the courtroom is regularly used.

(b) Filing or Trial in Wrong Branch.

No action shall be dismissed and no judgment order or decree shall be vacated, set aside or invalidated because the action was filed, tried or adjudicated in the wrong department, division or district.

(c) Transfer of Actions Improperly Filed.

Any action assigned to a judge that is determined by that judge, whether by suggestion of the parties or otherwise, to have been filed or to be pending in the wrong department, division, district or section of the Circuit Court of Cook County, shall be transferred to the Presiding Judge of the division or district in which it is pending for the purpose of transferring the action to the Presiding Judge of the proper division or district, or for reassignment to the proper section.

(d) Transfer of Actions Properly Filed.

For the convenience of parties and witnesses and for the more efficient disposition of litigation, a judge, upon motion of any party may transfer any action pending before that judge to the Presiding Judge of the division or district for the purpose of transferring the action to any other department, division or district.

(e) Transfer Orders.

Transfer orders shall be in writing, signed by the judge transferring the case and by the Presiding Judge of the division or district, and shall be in substantially the following form:

"The above entitled and numbered cause having been previously assigned to Judge_____________________________ is hereby transferred to Judge _____________________, Presiding Judge of the _____________________ Division or District for the purpose of transferring the cause to the _____________________________ Division or District.

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that said cause be and the same is transferred to Judge _________________________, Presiding Judge of the ___________________________ Division or District.

                                                                                            ____________________________________
                                                                                            Presiding Judge

                                                                                            ____________________________________
                                                                                            Division or District

 Date:_______________________

(f) Fees in Actions Transferred.

When an action is transferred from one department, division or district to another department, division or district and the fee required in the department, division or district to which the action is transferred is greater than the fee required in the department, division or district where the action was originally filed, the plaintiff shall pay a fee in an amount equal to the amount the plaintiff would have been required to pay had the plaintiff filed the action in the department, division or district to which the action is transferred, less the amount of the original filing fee paid, and the defendant and each defendant, if separate appearances have been filed, shall pay a fee in an amount equal to the amount the defendant would have been required to pay had the defendant filed his/her appearance in the department, division or district to which the action is transferred, less the amount of the original appearance fee paid.

[Amended, effective August 1, 1996.]