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Amanda Cottrell

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Amanda Cottrell is a partner in the Business Trial Practice Group in the firm’s Dallas office.

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In a significant early ruling, one of Texas’s newly established Business Courts addressed a key procedural question: whether pre-existing cases may be removed to the specialized forum. Judge Bill Whitehill’s October 30, 2024 decision in Energy Transfer LP v. Culberson Midstream LLC held that, regardless of subject matter, cases filed before September 1, 2024 must remain in their original courts.Continue Reading No Move to Greener Pastures: Texas Business Court Holds Parties May Not Remove Pre-September 1, 2024 Cases to New Court System

On May 25, 2023, the Texas Legislature enacted the biggest structural change to the Texas court system in recent memory. House Bill 19 (“HB 19”)—signed by Governor Greg Abbott in June—creates a new “Business Court” system for the Lone Star State. HB 19’s passage comes after four previous legislative efforts to enact a business court system in Texas failed. Texas’s Business Courts will activate on September 1, 2024, and will handle complex commercial disputes with significant amounts in controversy. The purpose is to create an efficient, specialized court for complex, high-value commercial disputes needing timely resolutions—matters that could otherwise languish in overworked district courts with broad dockets that include, among other things, criminal, personal injury, and family law cases. Ideally, specialized business courts also promote consistent interpretations of commercial laws and contracts, thereby leading to more predictable outcomes. Texas is now the 31st state to adopt a business court system of this kind.Continue Reading Texas Revolution: State Legislature Creates New Business Court System to Handle Significant Commercial Disputes