On September 1, 2024, the Texas Business Court became officially operational, following Governor Greg Abbott’s signing of House Bill 19 in 2023 to create the court. With 11 total divisions planned for the court, five divisions are currently in operation in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Houston. Governor Abbott has appointed two judges to each of these five divisions.
In 2024, a total of 56 cases were filed, across all five divisions (see figure 1).
As illustrated in the chart above, the busiest was the Eleventh Division in Houston, which saw 29 cases filed in 2024. The First Division in Dallas followed with 15 cases filed. The remaining divisions saw comparatively fewer cases.
During just four months in operation, the Business Court saw a variety of case types filed within each division (see figure 2).
The majority of cases in 2024 were filed under the “Debt/Contract” and “Other Civil” codes, with these case types representing 44 of the 56 cases filed, or 79%. At least three of the 21 “Debt/Contract” cases were filed as Fraud/Misrepresentation cases. Other case types filed included Other Contract (6), Partnership (4), and Securities/Stock (2).
Interested parties across the state were anticipating how the judges would handle the movement of these cases to the Business Court from other venues. The opinions issued from the Texas Business Court thus far appear to be exclusively related to the removability of actions to the Court that were filed before September 1, 2024. In each instance, the judges have cited Section 8 of House Bill 19, which limits the applicability of Texas Government Code Chapter 25A to “civil actions commenced on or after September 1, 2024.” So far, nine of the 56 cases filed in 2024 have been remanded back to district courts.
CRA IP’s Houston team will continue to monitor and provide updates on cases filed and opinions issued from the Texas Business Court throughout 2025.
