Commercial Part Hurdle Increased In Manhattan

In addition to the monetary limits, Commercial Division matters must meet other qualifications as enumerated in the Uniform Civil Rules for the Supreme Court §202.70. The rules allow a range of business-related litigation meeting the monetary threshold, but exclude certain actions, such as those for collection of a professional fee, landlord-tenant disputes and cases seeking a declaratory judgment as to insurance coverage for personal injury or property damage.

Joan B. Carey (See Profile), interim administrative judge for civil cases in New York City courts, said the thresholds are maintained to keep justices working on the “very high-powered, complex cases” that administrators want filed in state courts instead of federal courts.

Generally speaking, Judge Carey said in an interview, the damages sought in commercial cases provide a fair measure of their complexity and significance.

“The idea is that this litigation is somewhat different than other commercial cases that come into the court and probably the best way to measure that is to look at the amount of damages requested,” Judge Carey said.

The Commercial Division was created in Supreme Court in 1995 to provide a special forum in state courts for the litigation of demanding commercial cases that were then increasingly being filed in federal courts. Judith S. Kaye considered the growth of the commercial parts and their acceptance by litigants to be one of the leading accomplishments of her tenure as chief judge from 1993-2008.

Mr. Haig said the Commercial Division has created a sophisticated group of judges capable of hearing complex business-related cases and also eased the burden on regular Supreme Court parts that had to hear complicated commercial matters.

“I don’t know anybody who doesn’t think that the Commercial Division is an extraordinary success,” Mr. Haig said. “The commercial litigation bar thinks that it is. Corporate clients think that it is. . . . It removes complex commercial cases that sometime act as bottlenecks elsewhere and allows the rest of the court system to function more efficiently. It gives those cases to judges who like to do them and who are good at them.”

Mark Zauderer of Flemming Zulack Williamson Zauderer said the threshold increase “does not strike me as too high” and is recognition that the popular Commercial Division in Manhattan has limited resources.

“The key point on the threshold is the goal of striking the proper balance between not unduly clogging the Commercial Division on the one hand and, on the other, keeping open access for the kind of cases that should be before the Commercial Division,” Mr. Zauderer said.

Justice Ramos said sending more lower-value, less-complicated commercial cases to regular Supreme Court parts in Manhattan would help develop candidates for future commercial vacancies.

“We want to be able to send commercial cases that may not be at the threshold to the other judges to see if we can develop and find the next Commercial Division judge,” Justice Ramos said. “You develop the expertise and the ability to handle more and more complex issues that way.”

There currently is one vacancy on the Manhattan part. Justice Herman Cahn (See Profile), 76, left the bench at the end of last year due to mandatory retirement rules, although he agreed to stay for a short period as a judicial hearing officer. He is leaving that job next week.

In addition to Justices Bransten and Ramos, the other Manhattan Supreme Court justices assigned to the Commercial Division are Bernard Fried (See Profile), Barbara Kapnick (See Profile) and Richard Lowe (See Profile). Ira Gammerman, a judicial hearing officer, also is assigned to the court.

|[email protected]