Des Moines, July 19, 2016 - The third annual evaluation of the Iowa Business Specialty Court Pilot Project was posted to the Iowa Judicial Branch website today at iowacourts.gov/About_the_Courts/Specialty_Courts/Business_Court/Pilot_Project_Evaluations/. The evaluation monitors the progress and assesses the effectiveness of the business court. In February (PDF) of this year, based on previous evaluations and the level of ongoing litigation in the court, the Iowa Supreme Court announced that the business court would continue as a component of the Iowa court system beyond the three-year pilot program, which formally concluded May 1, 2016. State court administration has accepted thirty-three cases into the business court since commencement of the pilot project in May 2013.
The evaluation report provides background information on business court operations, information on the eligibility criteria the thirty-three business court cases have met, the current status of cases assigned to the business court, a breakdown of time the three business court judges have spent on the cases, impressions from the business court judges on how the project is working and how it might be improved, and an analysis of whether the program has achieved the original objectives of the pilot project.
The evaluation also includes survey information from attorneys with cases that have been resolved in the business court. All responding attorneys agreed that the court should become a permanent component of the Iowa court system, and that they would seek assignment of qualifying cases to the business court in the future.
The business court accepts a broad range of complex commercial cases with $200,000 or more in dispute or with claims seeking primarily injunctive or declaratory relief. In addition, the case must satisfy at least one of nine criteria listed in the Iowa Supreme Court's Memorandum of Operation (PDF) outlining the three-year pilot program. Three Iowa district court judges with experience in handling the complex issues facing businesses staff the business court. The business court judges are Michael Huppert, of Des Moines; Annette Scieszinski, of Albia; and John Telleen, of LeClaire. Additional information about the business court is posted on the Iowa Judicial Branch website.
For More Information:
Steve Davis, Court Communications Director, (515)725-8058 or [email protected].
Iowa Supreme Court
1111 East Court Avenue
Des Moines, IA 50319
515-281-3952