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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)

No Reliance Clauses ×
2026 Tex. Bus. 65 Motion to Dismiss September 22, 2026

No-Reliance and Merger Clauses Bar Fraud and Oral Contract Claims Despite Sophisticated Party's Allegations of Omitted Compensation

In Beard v. Perot, the Texas Business Court's 1st Division granted a Rule 91a motion to dismiss fraudulent inducement and breach of oral contract claims brought by a former venture capital partner seeking post-employment carried interest based on alleged oral promises. The court held that no-reliance, merger, and no-other-representations clauses in the plaintiff's termination-related contracts defeated his fraud and contract claims based on oral promises not written in either contract.

Private Equity Rule 91a Fraudulent Inducement No-Reliance Clause Merger Clause Opinion PDF ↓