CHAIRMAN
Hon. Ed Pittman
Pyle Mills Dye & Pittman, P.A.
JUDICIAL SELECTION SUBCOMMITTEE
Joey Diaz, Chair
The Diaz Law Firm
JURISDICTION/VENUE SUBCOMMITTEE
James Holland, Chair
Page, Kruger & Holland, P.A.
FUNDING/FEES SUBCOMMITTEE
Blake Wilson, Chair
Mississippi Economic Council
The Business Courts Study Group met throughout the summer and fall of 2008 to discuss the possibility of establishing a specialized process to streamline resolution of commercial and business disputes. The Study Group recommended the Mississippi Supreme Court create a pilot program for the disposition of business cases in the three regions of the State with the highest concentration of business and commercial cases.
Under the Group's recommendation, a business docket would be created in each of the Chancery and Circuit Courts in the selected regions. An elected sitting judge or former judge would be appointed as a special judge in these regions and would be assigned to hear cases on the business docket. These judges would oversee every aspect of each case. The judges who would undergo special training in handling complex business litigation, would issue written opinions in each case, helping to build a strong body of precedent which businesses could come to rely upon. Special procedural rules created by the Supreme Court would expedite the resolution of cases on the business docket, lowering the costs of litigation for all parties.
The Group recommended that certain matters – such as corporate governance disputes, intellectual property claims, and business-to-business disputes – would automatically be assigned to the business docket, while certain other types of cases (employment law matters and commercial insurance coverage disputes, for example) would be placed on the business docket only upon the consent of both parties. Other types of cases, most notably personal injury, products liability, and medical malpractice cases, would be ineligible for assignment to the business docket.