Today, the Tennessee Supreme Court celebrates the resounding success of the Business Court Docket Pilot Project operated as a part of the Davidson County Chancery Court. Since its inception last year, the Pilot Project has surpassed a total of 100 requests for transfer to the Business Court Docket, with 87 of those requests being granted.
The Supreme Court is now studying how to build on the success of the pilot. The Court also is considering expanding the pilot in order to meet the strong demand from the business community.
The Supreme Court established the pilot in May 2015 patterned in part after successful projects in other states in an effort to move complex business litigation through the court system in a more expeditious manner. The pilot has far surpassed initial expectations.
“It is now time for us to build on this initial success by considering refinements to the process that ultimately will allow us to move toward statewide implementation of this project,” said Chief Justice Jeff Bivins.
Since its inception in May 2015, the Supreme Court has granted 87 requests for transfer to the business court docket. More than 50 matters remain on the docket, which is already larger than dockets of many of the 25 states with separate, full-time business courts.
“By all measures, this pilot project has been a tremendous success,”
Chief Justice Bivins said. “Litigants and attorneys participating in the project have shared overwhelmingly positive feedback about their experiences.”
The goals of the pilot project included lower costs for litigants, removal of complex and time-consuming business litigation from regular dockets, development of a published body of case law in this area, and development of innovative court practices. The pilot has demonstrated that each of these goals can be met to the benefit of all users of the court system, and the knowledge gleaned from the pilot will now be used to build on the program’s success.
The initial demand experienced by the pilot project has led the Supreme Court to extend the pilot with its existing caseload, but defer designating any additional cases after October 31, 2016 until results from the initial pilot are studied. This time will be used by the Business Court Docket Advisory Commission and the Supreme Court to study potential changes to eligibility criteria for the docket, as well as other procedural revisions to make the process as efficient as possible for the litigants and the judiciary.
The Court emphasized its gratitude for the outstanding service of Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle, her staff, and the Davidson County Chancery Court Clerk and Master’s office in the implementation and execution of this important tool for economic development for our state.
Chief Justice Bivins also credited Justice Sharon Lee, who as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, brought to fruition a tool to bring efficient resolution of complex business cases to the State of Tennessee.
“Without Justice Lee’s leadership and vision, we would not have experienced such a successful start to this project,” Chief Justice Bivins said.
The Supreme Court also thanked the Executive and Legislative branches for their support in this project while looking forward to continued collaboration in advancing to the next phase. In addition, the work of the statewide Business Court Docket Advisory Commission has been an integral and continuing part of the success of the pilot, according to Chief Justice Bivins.
The Court, in conjunction with the advisory commission, will spend the next several months reviewing the data, recommendations, criteria, and other matters related to complex business litigation for use in charting the path forward for this project.
Decisions, motions and other legal documents from the pilot’s current caseload will continue to be posted on the judiciary’s website. The broader legal community, as well as the public, is invited to provide comments via email to Business.Court@tncourts.gov, as well as watch this website for updates.