New Jersey Supreme Court Approves Complex Business Litigation Program
November 18, 2014
The State Judiciary has recently announced the commencement of a Complex Business Litigation Program, which will begin accepting cases January 1, 2015. The new program will further the Judiciary’s goals of streamlining complex business, commercial, and construction cases and expediting resolution of those matters.
The program will provide for the assignment of a judge in each vicinage with experience in complex civil litigation to manage the resolution of qualifying commercial litigation cases. Each judge will receive training in especially relevant areas of the law and case administration, and will be expected to issue at least two written opinions each year, which will be posted on njcourts.com. The judges will be encouraged to post decisions online of particular interest to the business community in order to provide an educational legal resource to the public. In order to further resolution of commercial disputes, mediation will be encouraged whenever appropriate, but will not be required under the Judiciary’s mandatory civil mediation and arbitration program.
Eligibility for the new Complex Business Litigation Program will be evaluated when each case applying for the program is filed. The program has a threshold damages amount of $200,000, although a party may make a motion to have their dispute included in the program in cases that do not meet that amount when good reasons are demonstrated. Conversely, a party may move for removal from the program if the party believes the case does not meet the program’s requirements.
The program is good news for businesses, who will certainly benefit from the streamlined judicial process for complex commercial litigation cases.
For more information regarding the firm’s Complex Business Litigation Program, please contact Kathleen Barnett Einhorn, Director of the Complex Commercial Litigation Practice Group, at KEinhorn@genovaburns.com.
The program will provide for the assignment of a judge in each vicinage with experience in complex civil litigation to manage the resolution of qualifying commercial litigation cases. Each judge will receive training in especially relevant areas of the law and case administration, and will be expected to issue at least two written opinions each year, which will be posted on njcourts.com. The judges will be encouraged to post decisions online of particular interest to the business community in order to provide an educational legal resource to the public. In order to further resolution of commercial disputes, mediation will be encouraged whenever appropriate, but will not be required under the Judiciary’s mandatory civil mediation and arbitration program.
Eligibility for the new Complex Business Litigation Program will be evaluated when each case applying for the program is filed. The program has a threshold damages amount of $200,000, although a party may make a motion to have their dispute included in the program in cases that do not meet that amount when good reasons are demonstrated. Conversely, a party may move for removal from the program if the party believes the case does not meet the program’s requirements.
The program is good news for businesses, who will certainly benefit from the streamlined judicial process for complex commercial litigation cases.
For more information regarding the firm’s Complex Business Litigation Program, please contact Kathleen Barnett Einhorn, Director of the Complex Commercial Litigation Practice Group, at KEinhorn@genovaburns.com.
Tags: Litigation • Judicial Program