Civil Practice – Business Court Designation – Corporate – Material Dispute

Barclift v. Martin (Lawyers Weekly No. 020-008-18, 6 pp.) (James Gale, C.J.) 2018 NCBC 5

Holding: The complaint raises a material dispute involving the law governing corporations, so defendants had a unilateral right to designate the action as a mandatory complex business case pursuant to G.S. § 7A-45.4(a)(1). It is irrelevant that the case is not complex, that it does not present novel issues of corporate law, and that any superior court judge has jurisdiction to resolve the claims presented.

The court overrules plaintiff’s objection to defendants’ notice of designation and denies plaintiff’s motion to remand.

The North Carolina Business Court is not a court of special jurisdiction. When a case is designated as a mandatory complex business case, it is not removed to the Business Court. Instead, venue continues in the county of origin, and the Business Court judge assigned to the case is commissioned as a superior court judge for that county for purposes of hearing the matters arising within the designated case.