Idea behind business courts:
A business court would only handle disputes and commercial litigations between businesses.
Lawmakers have been trying to bring these courts into the state for years, hoping it would help the backlog of cases being litigated in district courts.
Creation of Business Court Taskforce:
When Senate Bill 632 was passed, it allowed the framework to open business courts in both Tulsa and Oklahoma Counties. The 2025 law also created the formation of the “Business Court Taskforce” which was set to study the idea and figure out the best way to set up the courts in the state.
“We’re looking at how do we create a business court for the state of Oklahoma to help businesses and litigants? It’s not just about businesses. It’s to make sure we have the best court system that we can have in the state, to make sure we’re taking care of people,” said Chairman Jon Echols.
“When we created the task force, we did a good job of getting lawyers like myself that have tried numerous cases in the state of Oklahoma, having in-house counsel that may have not had any trial experience in the state of Oklahoma, but are used to dealing with business courts inside that task force and some judges to make sure we set up a system that works for all of Oklahoma so we can be as business friendly a state as possible,” said Echols.
Supreme Court ruling blocking SB632:
In July, the Oklahoma State Supreme Court ruled that Senate Bill 632 was unconstitutional, after petitioners argued that business courts would take power away from voters.
“The Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional the bill that was passed last year by the legislature. So the task force got together, tried to deal with some of those issues. We had a momentary setback, but I still think they’re coming down the line,” said Echols.
Final Taskforce report submitted:
In a December meeting, the taskforce took a unanimous vote to submit its report to the legislature, executive branch and Oklahoma State Supreme Court.
“A unanimous report that brought everyone together, that sets up a system that would work for all of Oklahoma,” said Echols.
The details of the report were not made public at this time.
Next Steps:
The governor, legislature and judicial branch will now all get the opportunity to review the report and decide next steps.
“Now it’s up to the legislature. They’re going to move forward and see if they can set up a system that works for all of Oklahoma, where, again, we have certainty for businesses, we have certainty for litigants, and we don’t clog the dockets up in rural Oklahoma with these complex cases,” said Echols.
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