On June 3rd, the Oakland County Business Court commences here at the Oakland County Circuit Court.  The Michigan Supreme Court has appointed Oakland Circuit Judges Wendy Potts and James Alexander to preside over the docket.

To qualify for the Business Court, a dispute must seek at least $25,000 in damages and all litigants must be business entities; not individuals.  In addition, the Business Court will adopt e-filing and feature cost-saving tools such as audio/video conferencing and an emphasis on alternative dispute resolution.

Judges Alexander and Potts will be assigned cases in a blind-draw system; each judge will serve a 6-year term on the special court.  Bench trials -trials without juries- are expected to be the norm in the Business Court.  Both judges are expected to take a "hands-on" approach to the docket, with a scheduling-emphasis that features bringing the litigants into court early on with an emphasis on settlement; not trial.

If you ask us over here at the Law Blogger, this sounds like a very interesting gig for a jurist; here's why.  The Business Court will be the exclusive forum to hear and resolve the following type of disputes:

• Information technology, software, web-site design and hosting;
• Internal disputes within a business organization;
• Contract disputes, including intellectual property rights;
• Commercial banking transactions;
• Commercial real estate transactions;
• Business or Commercial insurance disputes.

For specific statutory language contained in the Revised Judicature Act controlling which cases are expressly included and which cases are expressly excluded in the Business Court, click here.

Litigants that desire to be included on the Oakland Circuit's Business Court docket should download and complete this Notice of Assignment to the Business Court Form.  For more information about the Business Court, click here.

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Governor Rick Snyder

Here in Oakland County, we've had an operational business court pilot since April 1, 2012.  This week, Governor Rick Snyder signed HB 5128 into law, amending portions of the Revised Judicature Act to rescind the so-called "cyber courts" [an idea that was never clear and never got off the ground], and replacing those specialized tribunals with "business courts" for all county circuit courts with more than 3 judges.


The central idea behind the specialized tribunals is to require electronic case and document filings.  According to the recent Senate Fiscal Agency analysis, the business courts would:

• Have exclusive jurisdiction over all business or commercial disputes with an amount in controversy in excess of $25,000;
• Any cause of action arising, in whole or in part, from a business or commercial dispute would be assigned to the business court;
• Require all circuit courts with more than 3 sitting judges to submit a plan for the implementation of a business tribunal to the State Court Administrative Office; 
• Counties with fewer than 3 judges have the option of submitting an administrative order for SCAO review for a specialized business court with concurrent jurisdiction with the county trial court;
• Cases will be assigned to business court judges via a blind draw;
• Business court cases are required to be filed electronically;
• Require that the judges assigned to the business courts be trained by the Michigan Judicial Institute; and
• Any cases that are pending on the various county pilot programs remain on that docket until they are completed. 

Presently, there are several "specialized" courts operational here in Michigan.  Each county has a family court, a probate court, and a court of general jurisdiction.  All district courts have a "small claims" division where people can bring disputes without lawyers.  Some county and district courts have "sobriety courts" focusing on treatment over incarceration.  And some counties have Veterans' court and adult treatment courts.

We will see if this new specialized court prunes the docket of the county courts of general jurisdiction.  Here at the Law Blogger, this seems like a good idea.

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