A new court dedicated to dealing with commercial disputes is to be rolled out in Tayside.
The Tayside Commercial Court will sit in Perth, Dundee and Forfar Sheriff Courts.
Sheriff Lindsay Foulis (Perth), Sheriff Lorna Drummond (Dundee) and Sheriff Gregor Murray (Forfar) are to be nominated as commercial sheriffs from April 3.
For administrative purposes, all new commercial actions will begin at Perth Sheriff Court, and thereafter all documents are to be lodged and processed at the same court.
The cases will not be distributed according to geography, but on a rotational basis.
A commercial action means an action arising out of, or concerned with, any transaction or dispute of a commercial or business nature including – but not limited to – actions relating to the construction of a commercial contract, the sale or hire purchase of goods, the export or import of merchandise, the carriage of goods by land, air or sea, insurance, banking, the provision of services, a building, engineering or construction contract and a commercial lease.
Sheriff Principal Marysia Lewis said: “I have carried out a review of the quality, quantity and outcomes of ordinary civil work across the Tayside courts with a primary objective – to maintain a high standard of judicial decision-making efficiently delivered after taking into account the resources available to achieve it.
“I am fortunate to have a number of sheriffs who have a background in commercial litigation, and some of those sheriffs are based in Tayside.”
Sheriffs Foulis, Drummond and Murray are holding a seminar at 6pm on Wednesday, February 22, in court one at Dundee Sheriff Court, where further information will be provided.
