The Supreme Court of Ohio wants to make it easier to litigate business disputes in Ohio. It adopted new rules of superintendence to create a commercial docket pilot project for the Courts of Common Pleas of four Ohio counties – Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton, and Lucas. The commercial dockets were created to help streamline business disputes and, indirectly, to facilitate business development in Ohio. Business entities now have a specialized forum to handle their disputes with guidelines focused on efficient resolution. Justice Maureen O’Connor recently said, “Having courts well- versed in complex business law benefits business litigants and the business community in Ohio.”
The cases accepted into the commercial docket include cases relating to formation/dissolution of businesses; internal business owner/shareholder disputes; trade secret and non-compete litigation; contracts between businesses; uniform commercial code transactions except product liability claims; purchase or sale of a business entity; non-consumer bank accounts; business related torts; antitrust and securities cases; and commercial insurance contracts.
The commercial dockets will not accept personal injury or product liability claims; employment law cases; environmental claims except those arising from legal obligations between business entities; cases involving a governmental entity as a party; discrimination claims; or residential and non-commercial real estate disputes.
Business disputes filed in the pilot project courts will still be randomly assigned in accordance with the individual assignment system adopted by each court. But business disputes will be transferred to one of two specially trained judges who are assigned to the commercial dockets. To guarantee a fair and equal distribution of cases, the commercial docket judges may request that non-commercial cases be reassigned to another judge.
Business disputes will now be streamlined because they will be handled by judges who receive special training and are not burdened by non- commercial civil matters. These judges may appoint special masters with the consent of all parties. To promote fairness and efficiency, the parties may suggest candidates for appointment as special master. The parties shall also be afforded an opportunity to object or modify special master’s orders or recommendations.
To encourage efficiency, the Supreme Court’s rules require a commercial docket judge to rule upon all motions within sixty days of the date the motion was filed. Opinions and dispositive orders of the commercial docket judges shall be promptly posted on the Supreme Court’s website to provide for consistency.
In September of 2008, Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas became the first to implement its commercial docket. Effective January 2, 2009, Franklin County and Lucas County began accepting cases into their commercial docket. And Cuyahoga County’s commercial dockets will take effect on February 1, 2009.