Texas Business Court Decision – Thursday, April 17, 2025

No. 25-BC04A-003  In Re: J.W.B. Trust of 2007, etc. (Fourth Division)

[Barnard, Author]

Jurisdiction. In this action, filed on February 20, 2024 in Bexar County Probate Court, plaintiff alleged the trustee of three trusts set up for his children had breached his fiduciary duty by failing to distribute all of the  trusts’ net income, thereby violating the trusts’ mandatory language. Plaintiff sought damages, removal of the trustee, and attorney’s fees. In February, 2025, plaintiff filed an amended petition, adding as a defendant BMC, the company whose stock comprised the trusts’ assets, alleging breach of numerous corporate fiduciary duties. BMC removed the suit to the Business Court, contending the amended petition contained corporate claims, thus bringing the case within the Court’s original and supplemental jurisdiction under the Section 25A.004 and 006.

HELD: Applying the logic of the Fifteenth Court of Appeals in ETC Field Services, LLC v. Tema Oil and Gas Company, 2025 WL 582317, this action commenced when it was filed in the Probate Court in February, 2024, and BMC’s removal of it to this Court did not commence a new civil action, but instead continued the previous one – see also Sebastian v. Durant, 2025 Tex. Bus. 4, 2025 WL 394634 (Feb, 4, 2025). The matter is remanded to the Bexar County Probate Court.