The CCLD was created to provide another option for businesses to have their disputes heard in Delaware. Because the CCLD was formed by leveraging the simplicity and predictability of the Superior Courts rule making power, Court structure and existing judges, commercial litigants will have ready access to efficient dispute resolution by a known entity using familiar rules. The ultimate goal is to create a forum with predictable procedures that will control the course of proceedings, bring cases to a conclusion in a reasonable period of time, and to reasonably control the costs of discovery, especially e-discovery.
QUALIFICATION. A case must: (1) include a claim with an amount in controversy of at least one million dollars, (2) involve an exclusive choice of court agreement or a judgment resulting from an exclusive choice of court agreement or (3) be so designated by the president judge.
BUSINESS AND COMMERCIAL DISPUTES ONLY. Cases will not qualify for the CCLD if they involve personal injury, mortgage foreclosure, mechanics liens, condemnation proceedings and any case where a party is an individual acting primarily for personal, family, or household purposes.
STRUCTURE. Cases qualified to be a CCLD case are assigned, on a rotating basis, to a judge on the Special CCLD Judges Panel. The Panel is appointed by the President Judge from among the existing Superior Court judges. Each judge on the Panel will serve a 3-year term. Panel Judges have the ability and authority to establish standing orders and protocols and to collaborate to promote uniformity in case management. If a case filed in Superior Court is assigned initially to a non-Panel judge under another case category, and it is subsequently identified as a qualifying case by a responding party, it will be reassigned to a CCLD Panel Judge.
AN UNDERUTILIZED RESOURCE. At the end of April, 2011, 49 cases had been filed in the CCLD. Because Delaware is a frequent corporate domicile and jurisdiction over Delaware entities is easily established, companies interested in efficient resolution of business disputes before specially-focused judges should more frequently file their claims in the CCLD. If businesses are serious about improving the efficiency and predictability of business litigation, they will choose the Delaware Superior Courts CCLD more frequently.