Friday, September 4, 2009
Recession ratchets up workload for N.C. Business Court
Triangle Business Journal – by Chris Baysden
GREENSBORO – When times are bad, people often look to others to blame for their woes.

And more often than not, it is the judicial system that ends up refereeing to these differences during economic downturns.

For the North Carolina Business Court, the whistle is out and the sue season is well under way.

The court has experienced a sizable increase in its workload over the past couple of years as its Web site currently lists 226 active cases. In 2008, the court said in a report to the General Assembly that it had 173 cases pending.

One of the primary benefits of the Business Court is that the judges don’t rotate off a case. In Superior Court, several judges can be involved in a case from start to finish. In the Business Court, the attorneys don’t have to spend time bringing different judges up to speed on an old issue.

“With a complex matter, there’s a lot to be said about keeping it with a single judge,” says Jim White, a local attorney with his own practice who has litigated in Business Court.