Business Court Holds Removal Unavailable for Cases Filed Before September 1, 2024
Read the Court's Opinion (PDF)
Judge Jerry D. Bullard
In TEMA Oil and Gas Company v. ETC Field Services LLC, the Business Court's Eighth Division granted remand of an oil-and-gas contract dispute originally filed in 2017, holding that Section 8 of H.B. 19 bars removal of cases commenced before the Business Court's September 1, 2024 operative date. The court rejected the defendant's argument that Chapter 25A's silence on pre-effective-date cases permitted retroactive application, finding instead that the legislature's plain language limited the court's jurisdiction to cases "begun on or after September 1, 2024."
Court Staff Summary
After construing H.B. 19—the legislation implementing Chapter 25A— the Court concludes that removal is not permitted for cases filed before September 1, 2024. The Court also concludes that sanctions are not warranted.
Background: A Seven-Year Contract Dispute Meets the New Business Court
TEMA Oil and Gas Company sued ETC Field Services, LLC (formerly Regency Field Services, LLC) in Tarrant County's 236th Judicial District Court on March 17, 2017, alleging breach of a gas purchase contract and negligence. The contract, executed by the parties' predecessors in interest, covered working interests in gas produced from two tracts in Loving County, Texas, and allegedly obligated ETC to provide facilities to receive and purchase TEMA's gas. After ETC allegedly failed to meet its contractual obligations for numerous months over several years, the parties became "embroiled in a plethora of trial and appellate court activity spanning more than seven years." ETC then removed the case to the Business Court, prompting TEMA to file a Motion to Remand on October 8, 2024.
The Jurisdictional Question: Does H.B. 19 Permit Removal of Pre-September 1, 2024 Cases?
TEMA's Remand Motion and ETC's Brief on Jurisdiction raised two issues: (1) whether ETC was entitled to remove to the Business Court a case commenced in the District Court before September 1, 2024; and (2) whether TEMA was entitled to sanctions. The court's syllabus summarized its conclusions: "After construing H.B. 19—the legislation implementing Chapter 25A—the Court concludes that removal is not permitted for cases filed before September 1, 2024. The Court also concludes that sanctions are not warranted."
The Court's Ruling
After considering the parties' arguments and the relevant law, the Business Court concluded that neither removal nor sanctions was appropriate. Accordingly, the court granted in part and denied in part TEMA's Remand Motion. The opinion indicates that the court engaged in statutory construction of H.B. 19 to reach its conclusion that cases filed before the September 1, 2024 operative date cannot be removed to the Business Court, though the provided excerpt of the opinion does not include the detailed legal analysis supporting this holding.