Commercial Docket
History of Commercial Docket
Modern business courts were first created as specialized dockets for complex cases starting in the 1990s in New York, Illinois, North Carolina, and New Jersey. Since then, state court commercial and business dockets have grown steadily, creating a competitive edge for corporations to stay located in states that offer a commercial docket.
In 2007, the Supreme Court of Ohio’s Chief Justice Moyer created the Supreme Court Task Force on Commercial Dockets, charging it with assessing the best method of establishing the commercial civil dockets. The Task Force was designed to develop and oversee a pilot project implementing the commercial docket in select courts of common pleas.
Pursuant to the Rules of Superintendence for the Courts of Ohio, the Lucas County Common Pleas Court – General Division established a Commercial Docket in 2013 as an effort to streamline certain civil cases while ensuring consistency and expertise among the docket’s judges.
The two Judges on the Lucas County Common Pleas Court Commercial Docket hear cases involving business-to-business disputes, including liquidations, trade-secret disputes, non-compete contracts and shareholder disagreements.
The Commercial Docket Program is available to Ohio counties with either six or more general division judges, or populations exceeding 300,000. Establishing a Commercial Docket is up to each individual court.
See: Rule 49 of The Supreme Court Rules of Superintendence (PDF)