ORLANDO - When Circuit Judge Renee Roche joined the bench in Orlando in the mid 1990s, she found business lawsuits that had languished in the court system for almost a decade.
She hopes that won't ever happen again now that her circuit has created a court, the first in Florida, strictly devoted to business cases. More than a dozen other states already have some type of business court.
"The courtroom needs to be efficient just like a business needs to be efficient," Roche said.
The business court opened Thursday, although Roche has been sifting through hundreds of case files since the beginning of the year. She already has accepted 200 existing cases, and her caseload could reach several times that size.
"With the existing cases, it's already overwhelming," Roche said.
For the time being the business court will hear only cases coming from Florida's 9th Judicial Circuit, which covers Orange and Osceola counties, the Orlando-Kissimmee area. Those cases can deal with mergers and acquisitions, corporate operations, accusations of officer misconduct, shareholder lawsuits, breach of fiduciary duty, the dissolution of partnerships, some real estate cases and some employment cases.
But Chief Circuit Judge Belvin Perry said he is open to allowing cases from other parts of the state to be heard in the business court if litigants from both sides agree to it. If the new court is a success, Perry might add another judge in about six months.
During the past several years, business courts had been considered in Miami and Tampa but they never took off.
Judge Manuel Menendez Jr., chief judge of the 13th Judicial Circuit and County Court in Tampa, said the topic was raised in 2001, shortly after the Hillsborough court system set up a civil trial division to handle longer cases, which are sometimes business-related.
"The thought was we really didn't have any extra judges, but we'd be interested to see how it worked in Miami," Menendez said. "Then it never took off in Miami."
Menendez said within the past month a group of Tampa lawyers revived the request with him informally over lunch. But with his court awaiting funding of eight judges' positions by the Legislature, he is reluctant to make any promises.
"If we get full funding, then we'll be in fine shape and we'll be in a good position to see what Orlando's experience is like," Menendez said. "I haven't eliminated the idea but it hasn't been embraced as something we'll do, either."
A spokesman for Chief Judge David Demers with the 6th Judicial Circuit and County Court in Pasco and Pinellas Counties echoed Menendez's reluctance to create a new court with existing funding. The 6th Judicial District currently has seven judges' positions pending approval by the Legislature.
Some attorneys oppose what they consider the increasing specialization of courts that are traditionally general in nature. In recent year many circuit courts have added special divisions devoted to family law, juvenile criminal cases and probate cases. "Some people look at it with disfavor," said Miles McGrane III, president of the Florida Bar, who practices in Coral Gables. "Under the Constitution, a judge is a judge is a judge."
But McGrane said the business court is a good idea since it will allow business cases to move more quickly through the system and allow a judge to develop expertise. "If you have a very complicated case coming through ... the judge will be able to give it the necessary attention," McGrane said.
Perry, sounding more like a chamber of commerce president than a chief judge, even thinks that having a business court in the circuit will encourage businesses to locate in Orange or Osceola counties.
"One of the prime things we need to do in central Florida is diversify our economy and get a better balance between our tourist-related industries and business," Perry said. "Businesses help improve the tax base; it attracts jobs. Unfortunately, with business, there comes litigation."
Jacob Stuart, president of the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce, said the business community was delighted with the new court.
"It's a better way of doing business," Stuart said. "A business court puts us in that setting with people who are accustomed to business proceedings and the burdens that litigation brings."
Roche plans to move the cases along quickly. Right after a case is filed, she will order opposing attorneys to meet to prepare a report on how the case will progress.
The rules also will be tougher. Motions before the court must be accompanied by a specific memorandum, and hearings won't automatically be held for every motion. Cases will be put on a track to be heard within either a year, a year and a half or two years.
- Times staff writer Kris Hundley contributed to this report.
