Adjudicating Business and Commercial Disputes: Fixing Failures

Abstract

Adjudicating business and commercial disputes often requires judges to interpret complex and intersecting specialized bodies of law. In the United States, for example, such disputes often involve intersecting provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) and the Bankruptcy Code. Given human limitations, courts sometimes err in deciding these disputes. This essay presents conspicuous examples of these errors, focusing on the UCC and the Bankruptcy Code. The essay also cautions parties to be aware of this heightened potential for judicial error and suggests a possible remedy: to further develop specialized business courts, which should be able to adjudicate these types of disputes much better than general jurisdiction courts.