How the Kent County Business Court Handles Commercial Cases

Kent County’s Circuit Court has a business court, a special docket created under MCL 600.8031 to 600.8047. A civil case that includes a business or commercial dispute must be assigned to it, even when the case also contains claims the statute excludes, such as personal injury. The court’s local plan sets the procedure.

What the statute requires

Every circuit with at least three circuit judges must have a business court and submit a plan for its operation to the State Court Administrative Office and the Michigan Supreme Court for approval. MCL 600.8033(1). The statute defines the business court as a special docket, MCL 600.8031(1)(a), staffed by sitting circuit judges whom the Supreme Court assigns for six-year terms. MCL 600.8037(1), (2). Its stated purposes include improving the efficiency of the courts and enhancing the accuracy, consistency and predictability of decisions in business and commercial cases. MCL 600.8033(3).

Kent County’s plan is Local Administrative Order 2025-04, which rescinds Local Administrative Order 2022-03 and replaces earlier orders addressing what was called the Kent County Specialized Business Docket. I read the copy posted on the Michigan courts website. The copy I read is undated, so check the Kent County court’s site for the current version and the current judge assignment before relying on it.

What qualifies

A business or commercial dispute is an action that fits one of these descriptions. MCL 600.8031(1)(c).

• All of the parties are business enterprises, unless the only claims asserted are excluded.
• One or more parties is a business enterprise and the others are its present or former owners, managers, shareholders, LLC members, directors, officers, agents, employees, suppliers, guarantors of a commercial loan, or competitors, and the claims arise out of those relationships.
• One party is a nonprofit organization and the claims arise out of its organizational structure, governance or finances.

“Business enterprise” covers sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, corporations and similar entities, but not ecclesiastical or religious organizations. MCL 600.8031(1)(b). The statute then lists types of actions that are included, such as those involving the sale, merger, dissolution, governance or finances of a business, the internal organization of business entities, commercial transactions, business insurance policies and commercial real property. MCL 600.8031(2). Contract claims, including licensing, trade secret, noncompete and confidentiality claims, are included “if all available administrative remedies are completely exhausted, including, but not limited to, alternative dispute resolution processes prescribed in the agreements.” MCL 600.8031(2)(d). A contract with a required mediation or arbitration step deserves a close read before you file.

What stays out

MCL 600.8031(3) expressly excludes, among others:

• Personal injury, wrongful death and malpractice actions.
• Product liability actions in which any claimant is an individual.
• Criminal and condemnation matters, and appeals from lower courts or agencies.
• Proceedings to enforce judgments of any kind.
• Landlord-tenant matters involving only residential property.
• Land contract, mortgage, construction and condominium lien foreclosures, and enforcement of condominium and homeowners association documents.
• Insurance coverage disputes in which the insured is an individual consumer, and motor vehicle coverage under the insurance code.
• Employment discrimination, civil rights, workers’ compensation, and wrongful discharge except actions involving corporate officers or directors.

An exclusion does not always decide the question. An action that includes a business or commercial dispute “must be maintained in a business court although it also involves claims that are not business or commercial disputes, including excluded claims under section 8031(3).” MCL 600.8035(3).

How a case gets there

Assignment is not optional. An action must be assigned to a business court if all or part of it includes a business or commercial dispute, and the statute calls for assignment to a business court judge by blind draw. MCL 600.8035(3), (4). Under the Kent plan, the business court judge reviews the pleadings in every civil case filed in the 17th Circuit Court to decide whether the case meets the requirements, and assignment follows the court’s case-assignment local administrative order. LAO 2025-04, Parts III and IV.A.

Assignment can change as a case changes. A case that later picks up a business claim through an amendment, counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party complaint must be reassigned by blind draw to a business court, and a case that stops including a business dispute may be reassigned out. MCL 600.8035(5), (6); LAO 2025-04, Part IV.B and C. A party who disagrees with an assignment can ask the chief judge of the circuit to review it, and the chief judge’s ruling is not appealable. MCL 600.8035(7); LAO 2025-04, Part II.B.

Once the case is there

Under the plan, the business court judge holds an initial case conference in each case and encourages early facilitative mediation where it may resolve the case. LAO 2025-04, Part V. Judges are to offer informal conferences by Zoom when appropriate, and the court maintains electronic filing for every document other than the initial pleading. Id., Part VI. On each significant matter decided, the judge publishes a written opinion on the court’s searchable database and sends it to the State Court Administrative Office for a statewide indexed website. Id., Part VII; see MCL 600.8039(3).

Practice and procedure that the statute and the plan do not address follow the circuit court’s, MCL 600.8039(4), and circuit court fees apply. MCL 600.8045. An appeal from a business court goes to the Court of Appeals. MCL 600.8041(1). Whether a dispute belongs there is a question I work through in my business litigation practice before a complaint is drafted.

If you are not sure where a commercial case belongs in Kent County, call my Grand Rapids office at (616) 213-3327 or use the contact page. This post is general information, not legal advice, and reading it does not make me your lawyer.