SB80,12,14 (b) Parties described under par. (a) may jointly petition for transfer of a case to a commercial court docket if all of the following are true:

SB80,12,16 1. The case is a type identified in sub. (4) and is not ineligible for assignment to a commercial court docket under sub. (6).

SB80,12,18 2. The parties agree to use the forms and procedures developed for use in the commercial court docket.

SB80,12,22 3. The parties agree that all proceedings will be conducted in the courtroom of the judge to which the case is assigned under par. (c), except that if the case proceeds to trial, the trial will be conducted in the county where the case was originally filed.

SB80,12,23 (c) The procedure for a joint petition for transfer shall be as follows:

SB80,13,18 1. When parties petition for the transfer of a commercial court case from a district that does not then have a commercial court docket, they shall file that petition with the clerk of court in the county where the case is originally filed and also file a copy of that petition with the court administrative officer designated by the director of state courts. The supervising commercial court judge shall determine where the case should be transferred based upon workload and the reasonable convenience of the parties and shall confer with the chief judge of that judicial administrative district as to which commercial court judge is best able to accept that additional workload assignment. The parties requesting the assignment to the commercial court docket shall agree that the judge assigned to the case may direct that all matters, other than trial, be held either in the assigned judge’s home courtroom or by electronic means. Trials shall be held in the county in which the case was originally filed. The clerk of the circuit court of the county where the case was originally filed shall continue to be responsible to accept filings, clerk on the record proceedings, and perform all other duties applicable to that case. Any judgments rendered as a result of such proceedings shall be docketed in the county in which the matter was originally filed, and any appeal shall be made to the court of appeals in the appellate district where the case was originally filed.

SB80,13,23 2. The supervising commercial court docket judge shall consider the caseload of the judges designated for the commercial court docket, the nature of the case for which the petition was submitted, and the work requirements for cases already pending in the commercial court docket when determining whether to allow the transfer of a case under this paragraph.

SB80,14,4 3. The supervising commercial court docket judge shall, upon allowing a transfer, assign the case to the commercial court docket and to one of the judges designated for the commercial court docket in a participating judicial administrative district.

SB80,14,9 4. In the event of a request for judicial substitution in a case transferred under this subsection and assigned to the commercial court docket, the chief judge of the judicial administrative district in which the assignment is made shall then assign another judge from the judicial administrative district who has been appointed for commercial court cases.

SB80,14,11 (d) No party may withdraw a request for transfer to the commercial court docket after a judicial assignment has been made under par. (c).

SB80,14,12 (end)