The Massachusetts Superior Court’s Business Litigation Session (BLS) handles a defined group of complex business and commercial disputes. A BLS assignment can affect the early posture of a case, but it is not automatic for every disagreement between businesses.
Subject matter and amount can matter
The BLS standing order describes eligible case types and procedures for seeking or opposing assignment. It includes many commercial disputes, and it sets an amount-in-controversy threshold for certain cases. The governing order—not a label on a complaint—controls whether a particular matter qualifies.
Assignment is an early procedural question
Parties should examine jurisdiction, venue, contractual forum-selection clauses, the claims actually pleaded, and the relief sought. If BLS assignment is appropriate, the applicable standing order provides the mechanism for requesting it. That review is best done before a case becomes procedurally entrenched.
Build the case around documents and the business objective
Commercial cases often turn on agreements, correspondence, corporate records, financial information, and the remedy that would actually protect the client’s interests. Injunctive relief, damages, a declaration of rights, or a negotiated resolution may call for different early choices.