Wyoming Chancery Court Has Launched
The Chancery Court is now up and running in Wyoming. Its stated purpose is “to provide a forum for streamlined resolution of commercial, business and trust cases.” The goal is to resolve business and trust cases in a more expeditious manner with bench trials and a limited motions practice. It will also utilize electronic filings with remote public access, which isn’t prevalent yet in all Wyoming courts.
The Chancery Court has jurisdiction to decide actions for either equitable or declaratory relief and for actions where the requested pecuniary relief exceeds $50,000 (exclusive of claims for punitive damages, interest, and attorneys’ fees and costs.) The court’s statutory jurisdiction covers a variety of transactional matters, but of interest to readers of this blog is the fact that it will deal with transactions governed by the Wyoming Uniform Trust Code.
Chancery Court judges have concurrent jurisdiction with all district court judges in Wyoming but only as to the causes of action enumerated in the applicable statute. (Wyo. Stat. § 5-13-115(b)). A two or three judge panel of judges experienced in business litigation will handle Chancery Court cases temporarily, but a full-time Chancery Court judge will be appointed by March 2023. A courtroom and chamber are under construction in the Casper state office building. Until a Chancery Court judge is appointed, most proceedings will be conducted remotely. The Chancery Court Clerk is now housed in the Wyoming Supreme Court building.
All parties must consent to moving forward in Chancery Court, even if all jurisdictional requirements are met. The advantages of Chancery Court are many, but the one most often cited is the expeditious resolution of disputes. The goal of the Chancery Court will be to resolve most actions within 150 days. Litigants will likely find tailored discovery and informal dispute resolution methods utilized when litigating a case in Chancery Court, which should also decrease costs to litigants.
The Chancery Court has its own version of the rules of civil procedure and local rules. These rules, and much more information about the Chancery Court, may be found on the Chancery Court website. In addition to benefitting litigants in commercial and trust cases, the entire Wyoming judicial system should see advantages as many such cases that would previously have come before the district court judges will now be filed in the Chancery Court.