Business Court: Bennett Law Submits Comment to Georgia Supreme Court

June 15, 2020

By: Brittany E. Bennett, Esq.

On November 6, 2018, voters in Georgia approved Georgia Amendment 2, which established a state business court and procedures and rules for judicial selection, term length, and judge qualifications for the court. In 2019, the Georgia State Legislature approved HB 239, laying out the details of the statewide business court and officially amending Georgia law. The court will begin taking cases on August 1, 2020 [1].

Georgia had two local business courts that had been implemented as pilot programs in Fulton County and Gwinnett County. The Fulton County business court had been operating since October 2005 and expanded to serve Gwinnett Superior and Gwinnett State Courts in July 2016. The purpose of the business court was “to provide judicial attention and expertise to certain complex business cases and to facilitate the timely and appropriate resolution of such disputes. [2]

The Georgia State-wide Business Court has concurrent jurisdiction with the Georgia Superior Courts over equity cases and cases involving securities, the commercial code, internal business affairs, professional malpractice resulting from a business dispute, breach of contract claims between businesses, and more as provided by law.

The judge of the Georgia State-wide Business Court has drafted a new set of rules for the Business Court, in consultation with a commission of eight Georgia attorneys. That draft has been submitted to the Supreme Court for approval. [3] The Supreme Court solicited comments from the bench, bar, and public regarding these draft rules. The purpose of such comment is to solicit feedback and input from the community these rules will affect.

As members of the Georgia State Bar and as attorneys who frequently represent clients in business disputes, Bennett Law & Mediation Services LLC has submitted a comment for consideration by the Georgia Supreme Court. In drafting a comment, Bennett Law has remained committed to serving its clients in a meaningful and impactful way, not only though litigation but through any means necessary. Bennett Law has made recommendations to the Georgia Supreme Court that, if implemented, will save clients in a business dispute time and money. Some of our key recommendations include the following:

By requiring mediation, the parties will be more likely to reach a settlement instead of wasting valuable time and money in litigation. Statistics show that 55% of court ordered mediations result in settlement! If the majority of cases settle, then clients will save thousands of dollars by avoiding litigation all together.

Requiring Initial Disclosures will allow parties to exchange basic information before entering the discovery period of litigation. This will narrow the scope of discovery and, again, save time and money.

In addition to saving time and money when in a business dispute, we support our client’s right to choose counsel, whether that counsel is local or from out of State. We proposed a rule that would protect that right and would not interfere with a party’s right to select outside counsel who may have scheduling conflicts.

This is a very brief overview of our recommendations to the Georgia Supreme Court. If you would like to view our full Comment, please click here.

[1] Georgia State Legislature, “2019-2020 Regular Session – HB 239: Georgia Business Court,” accessed June 5, 2020.

[2] Fulton Court, “Metro Atlanta Business Court- General Information,” accessed June 10, 2020.

[3] Ga. Const. Art. VI, Sec. IX, Para. I.

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