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Dallas, Texas  ·  Complex Commercial Litigation

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Portrait of Hon. Bill Whitehill

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.

Source: txcourts.gov

Opinions by Judge Whitehill (1)

Effective Date Application ×
2024 Tex. Bus. 2 Jurisdiction & Remand October 31, 2024

Business Court Lacks Authority Over Pre-September 1, 2024 Cases: Whitehill Grants Remand in Synergy Global

In Synergy Global Outsourcing, LLC v. Hinduja Global Solutions, Inc., the Business Court of Texas granted a motion to remand a 2019-filed contract dispute, holding that H.B. 19, § 8's plain text restricts the court's authority to "civil actions commenced on or after September 1, 2024," precluding removal of cases filed in district court before that date. The October 31, 2024 opinion resolves a threshold statutory construction question about the temporal scope of the court's removal jurisdiction under Government Code § 25A.006.

Removal & Remand Temporal Jurisdiction Section 25A.006 H.B. 19 § 8 Statutory Construction Opinion PDF ↓