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Hon. Bill Whitehill
Judge · Seat 1B
Texas Business Court · First Business Court Division (Dallas)
Biography
Bill Whitehill is an inaugural Judge of the Texas Business Court First Division, Dallas. He came to the Court from Condon Tobin Sladek Thornton Nerenberg PLLC, where he was a member and led the firm’s Appellate Section. Before joining the Business Court, Bill served as a Justice on the Texas Fifth District Court of Appeals, where he authored over 600 substantive opinions. Bill was an associate and partner at Gardere Wynne Sewell, LLP, now known as Foley & Lardner, LLP for thirty-three years. At Gardere, he handled commercial, antitrust, securities, intellectual property, and fiduciary trials and appeals. He is a sustaining life fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, and fellow of the Dallas Bar Foundation. He is a homeless kitchen volunteer for Cornerstone Baptist Church and is a former co-teacher and mentor at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy. Bill received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor with honors from the SMU Dedman School of Law and an Order of the Coif member.
Opinions by Judge Whitehill (2)
Business Court Clarifies Removal Procedure, Internal Affairs Jurisdiction, and Amount-in-Controversy Scope in Real Estate Development Dispute
In Chaudhry v. Stillwater Capital Investments, Division 1 held that defendants need not file separate removal notices to benefit from removal, that fraud-in-the-inducement claims regarding LLC company agreements fall within the court's subject matter jurisdiction over internal affairs and governing documents, and that the amount-in-controversy requirement applies case-wide including counterclaims. The court also rejected non-statutory grounds for declining to exercise subject matter jurisdiction.
Business Court Clarifies 'Qualified Transaction' Jurisdictional Test: Assignment of Promissory Notes Meets $10 Million Threshold When Contracted-For Interest Included
In *Atlas IDF v. NexPoint Real Estate Partners*, the Business Court's First Division held that an action to collect on assigned promissory notes arises out of a qualified transaction under Government Code § 25A.001(14) where the assignment itself constitutes the transaction and the notes' aggregate principal plus contracted-for interest exceeds $10 million. Judge Whitehill's opinion establishes that "consideration" includes anticipated interest as part of demand notes' bargain and that the "amount in controversy" calculation includes contracted-for interest, not merely principal.