Strictly Business

We have the first five opinions of the Texas Business Court and they’re… basically all the same opinion. TL;DR: cases filed before September 1, 2024 are outside the jurisdiction of the Business Court.

Let’s talk about House Bill 19. House Bill 19 was the Act that created the Texas Business Courts, and in large part it was codified in Chapter 25A of the Government Code. One of the portions of the Act that was not codified was Section 8, which says:

“The changes in law made by this Act apply to civil actions commenced on or after September 1, 2024.”

Despite not making the cut to get into the Government Code, HB19 Section 8 is still law, so the Court did what it does and it looked at the plain meaning. Judge Whitehill (Dallas) concluded that if HB19’s “changes in law” apply to actions after 9/1/24, then the flip side of that coin is that they do not apply to actions before then. The Court ruled that cases filed before 9/1/24 could not be removed to the TBC.

Judges Bullard (Fort Worth), Barnard (San Antonio) and Sharp (San Antonio) reached the same conclusion, relying on Whitehill’s opinion.

Is Energy Transfer likely to be a precedent that is cited for generations? …no. The further we get from 9/1/24, the fewer cases there will be that will run into this jurisdictional roadblock. But what Energy Transfer and the cases that follow it does show us is that the Texas Business Courts are committed to plain meaning textualism and are policing jurisdiction rigidly (e.g., the Jorrie case was removed by consent of all the parties and remanded sua sponte by the court).

Cases:

Jorrie v. Charles et al, No. 24-BC04B-0001, 2024 Tex. Bus. 5 (Tex. Bus.–San Antonio, Nov. 7, 2024).

Winans v. Berry, No. 24-BC04A-0002, 2024 Tex. Bus. 4 (Tex. Bus. Ct. Oct

Tema Oil & Gas Co. v. ETC Field Servs. LLC, 2024 Tex. Bus. 3 (Tex. Bus. Ct. Nov. 6, 2024)

Synergy Global Outsourcing LLC v. Hinduja Global Sol. Inc., 2024 Tex. Bus. 2 (Tex. Bus. Ct. Oct. 31, 2024)

Energy Trans. LP v. Culberson Midstream LLC, 2024 Tex. Bus. 1 (Tex. Bus. Ct. Oct. 30, 2024)