| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to pilot programs for specialized dispute |
| 3 | resolution divisions; providing legislative findings |
| 4 | relating to pilot programs of courts establishing |
| 5 | specialized divisions for adjudication and resolution of |
| 6 | complex business, corporate, and commercial disputes; |
| 7 | providing an appropriation; providing for allocation of |
| 8 | the appropriation to certain judicial circuits for certain |
| 9 | purposes; providing an effective date. |
| 10 |
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| 11 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 12 |
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| 13 | Section 1. Pilot programs for adjudication and resolution |
| 14 | of complex business, corporate, and commercial disputes.--The |
| 15 | Legislature finds that: |
| 16 | (1) Complex business, corporate, and commercial disputes |
| 17 | have tended to remain in the court system for extended periods |
| 18 | of time, which has resulted in substantial costs to the |
| 19 | litigants and to the court system as a whole and has caused |
| 20 | delays in the resolution of these and other types of cases. |
| 21 | (2) Pilot programs establishing specialized divisions or |
| 22 | sections of the circuit courts to process, manage, and |
| 23 | adjudicate cases involving complex business, corporate, and |
| 24 | commercial disputes have been established in January 2004 in the |
| 25 | Ninth Judicial Circuit and in January 2007 in the Eleventh and |
| 26 | Thirteenth Judicial Circuits through administrative orders |
| 27 | entered by the chief judges in those circuits. The types of |
| 28 | cases which have been referred to those courts have included |
| 29 | non-consumer actions under the Uniform Commercial Code; actions |
| 30 | relating to internal affairs or governance between or among |
| 31 | shareholders, partners, or members of business entities; |
| 32 | purchases and sales of businesses or the assets of businesses; |
| 33 | franchisor-franchisee relationships; actions relating to trade |
| 34 | secrets or non-compete agreements; actions relating to business |
| 35 | torts, intellectual property, antitrust, director and officer |
| 36 | liability; shareholder derivative actions; and other actions of |
| 37 | a complex commercial nature. |
| 38 | (3) A high degree of case management is required to |
| 39 | efficiently and expeditiously handle, process, and resolve these |
| 40 | types of cases, including the handling of discovery disputes and |
| 41 | motion practice, which necessitates the use of more court |
| 42 | resources, including law clerks, case managers, special masters, |
| 43 | and technological resources. |
| 44 | (4) Requiring the diversion of resources and funds from |
| 45 | other court programs to these specialized circuit court |
| 46 | divisions or sections to allow them to efficiently and |
| 47 | expeditiously handle these types of cases would not serve the |
| 48 | public interest. |
| 49 | Section 2. The sum of $__________ in nonrecurring funds is |
| 50 | appropriated from the General Revenue Fund to the circuit courts |
| 51 | in the Ninth, Eleventh, and Thirteenth Judicial Circuits for the |
| 52 | 2007-2008 fiscal year to be used to hire law clerks, case |
| 53 | managers, and special masters and provide technological |
| 54 | resources to assist in operating the pilot programs as |
| 55 | established through administrative orders by the chief judges in |
| 56 | those circuits. The appropriation shall be allocated as follows: |
| 57 | $ to the Ninth Judicial Circuit; $ to the Eleventh |
| 58 | Judicial Circuit; and $ to the Thirteenth Judicial |
| 59 | Circuit. |
| 60 | Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |