Fifteenth Circuit Court of Appeals Decision – July 31, 2025
This Fifteenth Circuit opinion addresses the June 1, 2025 amendment to Chapter 25A – Section 25A.021 – affecting consent removals of cases commenced before September 1, 2024.
No. 15-25-00003-CV Lone Star NGL Product Services LLC, etc. v. EagleClaw Midstream Ventures LLC and CR Permian Processing, LLC.
Civil Case – Jurisdiction. This suit over natural gas liquids sales agreements was filed in Harris County district court in May 2021 and seeks hundreds of millions of dollars in damages for breach of contract and fraud. On September 13, 2024, after the Business Court opened, the parties entered into an agreement consenting to Business Court jurisdiction, stating they intended the agreement to be a “subsequent agreement” under Section 25A.004(D)(2), and waiving any challenge to Business Court jurisdiction. They filed a joint notice of removal but, following a hearing, the Business Court remanded the matter to Harris County, concluding the Section 8 of Bill 19 which limited the Business Court’s jurisdiction to cases commenced on or after September 1, 2025 was a jurisdictional limitation, and the parties could not waive Section 8 through agreement. See Lone Star NGL Prod. Servs., LLC v. EagleClaw Midstream Ventures, LLC, 2023 Tex. Bus., 705 S.W.3d 243, 254 (11th Div. 2024). The Business Court granted their motion for a permissive appeal, and the Fifteenth Circuit accepted the appeal.
While the appeal was pending, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 40, adding Section 25A.201 to the Government Code; the new provision explicitly allows parties to agree to transfer pre-September 1, 2024 cases to the Business Court with the court’s permission, “notwithstanding Section 8” of the original legislation.
HELD: Section 8’s effective date provision is not a jurisdictional limitation when the parties agree to removal and the case meets the Business Court’s other jurisdictional requirements. The court abates the appeal and remands the case to the Business Court with instructions to determine whether to grant permission to proceed in Business Court under Section 25A.021, when it becomes effective September 1, 2025.