Short answer. It is someone else. Under Rule 18, Section 9, your original judge does not conduct the judicial dispute resolution personally — the case is referred to another court, and only if the original judge is convinced a settlement is still possible. If that effort fails, the case comes back to your original judge for trial.
What the law says
Only if the judge of the court to which the case was originally raffled is convinced that settlement is still possible, the case may be referred to another court for judicial dispute resolution.
Rule 18, Section 9 — Judicial [d]ispute [r]esolution. Read the full provision →
Why the referral goes to a different court
The rule sends judicial dispute resolution to another court, not back to the judge already handling the case. The reasoning is straightforward: the original judge will preside over trial if settlement talks fail, so he should not be the one steering those talks. Keeping the two roles apart protects both sides — neither party has to worry that something said while exploring a settlement will color how the trial judge later views the merits of the case.
It is not automatic
Referral only happens if the original judge is convinced that settlement is still possible. This follows an earlier, unsuccessful court-annexed mediation — judicial dispute resolution is not the first attempt at settlement, it is a second one, and only for cases the judge believes are genuinely still capable of being resolved without trial. If the judge sees no realistic prospect of settlement, the case proceeds toward trial without ever being referred out for this step.
A tight, fixed window
Once referred, the judicial dispute resolution must be conducted within a non-extendible period of fifteen calendar days from notice that the court-annexed mediation failed. There is no room to stretch this out — the rule fixes the deadline and does not allow it to be extended. Either the parties reach a settlement within that window, or the process ends and the case moves on.
All proceedings during both the court-annexed mediation and the judicial dispute resolution are confidential, which is part of why a different judge handles it — statements made while negotiating are shielded from the judge who will later decide the case if talks break down.
What happens if it fails
If judicial dispute resolution does not produce a settlement, the case does not stay with the referral court. Trial proceeds before the original court — the judge to whom the case was raffled at the start — on the dates already agreed upon. So the referral is a detour, not a transfer: the case always returns to the same judge who had it before the settlement attempt began.