Chip Ingraham Quoted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Atlanta partner Chip Ingraham was quoted in an article which appeared in the January 12, 2006 issue of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution regarding a newly created court to resolve business disputes. The article, “Open for business: New fast-track Fulton court tries to fill a niche,” examines Fulton County’s “business court,” presided over by senior judges with experience in complex business disputes and created as part of a national trend toward specialized civil courts which relieve the caseload of big-city courts which are overwhelmed by, and must give precedence to, criminal cases. The use of the court is voluntary and both sides must agree to move a case there.

Chip, the lawyer for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport’s fired international terminal design team, wants to move its wrongful termination case to the business court, but has been blocked by the opponent in the case, the city of Atlanta.

“This has stymied the fired design team of the Atlanta airport’s international terminal,” the article states. “The team, led by the architecture firm Leo A Daly, hopes to clear the cloud over its reputation as quickly as possible, and business court seems like the ideal venue, said Chip Ingraham, a lawyer for the firm. But the city of Atlanta opposes moving the case to business court.

“Ingraham believes the city wants to avoid business court precisely because it could resolve the case more quickly. Daly and its minority partners contend they are being scapegoated for the airport’s worries over the future of bankrupt Delta Air Lines, the airport’s primary tenant and the main user of international gates.

“The airport fired the design team in August, saying it was behind schedule and its plans were about $140 million over budget.”

Ingraham contends that the city wants to drag out the case to see what happens with Delta before deciding whether to proceed with a redesign of the airport, even though it will cost much more in legal fees. The airport general manager has denied that, saying the airport wants to move as quickly as possible to redesign and build the international terminal.

The international terminal suit would be the most prominent in the new court.