Business Courts
A specialized business court
will streamline the litigation
process and provide faster
dispute resolution for the
business community. |
Why Does it Matter? |
A business court system is
attractive to businesses
because such courts have standardized
procedures and consistency in
rulings. The judges in the business
court system are able to render
quality decisions because they are
familiar with the issues raised in
complex business litigation.
Additionally, the establishment of
business courts will often lead to
reduced workloads because such
courts use alternative dispute
resolution in order to facilitate
settlement before trial. Further,
business courts use state of the art
technology which also helps to
expedite resolution.
Furthermore, business courts
help alleviate the burdens imposed
on the court system because large,
complex business cases frequently
clog the dockets of circuit courts with extensive discovery and
pretrial proceedings. In fact, almost
half of all cases assigned to
Orlando’s business court settled
within 20 days of the filing of the
action.
|
In 2004, Florida’s Ninth Judicial
Circuit Court, located in Orlando,
established a business court
division by order of the chief judge. This division includes two judges who
hear and decide cases involving complex business litigation such as antifraud,
complex contract disputes, intellectual property and unfair competition
disputes. Other states have established courts which handle only
business cases. Administrative orders authorizing business courts in the
Eleventh (Miami) and Thirteenth (Tampa) Circuits have already been issued.
In states where business courts have not been established by their
Legislatures, chief judges have used their administrative powers to establish
such courts. However, in order to establish a uniform system, legislative
action along with cooperation from the judiciary is needed in order to
determine the best method for establishing business courts in each circuit.
Legislation is currently being proposed for the 2007 Legislative Session
that would do just that. |
