Texas changed its commercial litigation landscape by creating a statewide Business Court for certain high-value commercial disputes through House Bill 19. The Texas Judicial Branch describes the Business Court as a specialized trial court for certain complex business disputes. The legislative analysis behind the bill said the goal was to route those cases to judges with strong business-law backgrounds and to streamline their handling. Judges appointed to the court must have at least 10 years of experience in complex civil business litigation, business transaction law, service as a civil judge, or a combination of those backgrounds.
That structure is now more than a proposal on paper; it is a functioning division of the business court. The Business Court began operating on September 1, 2024. As of the Texas Judicial Branch’s current Business Court page, five divisions are operational, with judges sitting in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Houston. In 2025, H.B. 40 prevented the remaining six divisions from expiring, but the Texas Judiciary’s legislative update states that those divisions were authorized without an appropriation. In other words, the court is statewide by statute, but only five divisions are active right now.
Why Did Texas Create a Business Court?
For Texas attorneys and paralegals working in commercial litigation, the creation of the Business Court divisions explains everything that follows. The state did not create a second district court system for ordinary contract fights. It created a forum for business disputes that can involve internal governance claims, high-dollar transactions, arbitration disputes, intellectual property disputes, and other corporate conflicts that often demand closer attention to pleadings, venue, injunction timing, and appellate positioning from the start. H.B. 19’s legislative analysis said the court was meant to streamline commercial disputes and improve confidence in Texas as a place to do business. H.B. 40 then widened the court’s reach by lowering key dollar thresholds and expanding some jurisdictional categories.
Where the Dollar Thresholds Now Stand
The number many Texas litigators used when the court was first announced was $10 million. That is no longer the right default figure. H.B. 40 lowered several threshold amounts to $5 million, and that change took effect on September 1, 2025. The annual report for the Business Court’s first year notes that H.B. 40 lowered both the “qualified transaction” threshold and the amount-in-controversy threshold from $10 million to $5 million for covered disputes.
For practical screening, the court’s jurisdiction now breaks down like this:
Some cases can be filed in the Texas Business Court regardless of the amount in controversy, but those exceeding 10 million are prioritized. According to Section 25A.004(b) of the Texas Government Code, those cases include certain internal business disputes, such as derivative proceedings and certain claims related to governance, governing documents, internal affairs, and the conduct of owners, controlling persons, or managerial officials.
Other cases require an amount in controversy that exceeds $5 million, excluding interest, statutory damages, exemplary damages, penalties, attorney’s fees, and court costs. That group includes actions arising from a qualified transaction and actions arising from a business, commercial, or investment contract or transaction in which the parties agreed that the Business Court would have jurisdiction, except for insurance-contract disputes in that contract-based category.
H.B. 40 also expanded the court’s reach to some intellectual-property and trade-secret disputes, as well as arbitration-related proceedings, when the underlying claim fits within Business Court jurisdiction and the statutory threshold is met.
A “qualified transaction” also now has a lower entry point. The updated statute and H.B. 40 analysis describe it, in substance, as a transaction or series of related transactions, other than certain bank, credit union, or savings-and-loan lending transactions, involving aggregate consideration or money or credit of at least $5 million. That is one of the biggest shifts Texas litigators need to account for in 2026. A case that missed the old threshold may now be eligible.
How Removal to Business Court Works
Removal is where teams can lose ground if they treat the Business Court like an ordinary venue issue. Texas Government Code Section 25A.006, as amended, gives parties two main paths.
If everyone agrees, a party may file an agreed notice of removal at any time while the case is pending. If the removal is not agreed, the deadline is tighter: the notice must be filed no later than 30 days after the later of service or the date the removing party discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, facts establishing Business Court jurisdiction. If a temporary-injunction application is already pending when those jurisdictional facts are or should be discovered, the deadline runs no later than 30 days after the application is granted, denied, or denied by operation of law.
The procedure is also specific. The notice has to be filed in both the Business Court and the court where the action was originally filed, as mandated by the Texas legislature. Once the original clerk receives the notice, that clerk must immediately transfer the action. Removal does not waive a venue objection, and it does not count as an appearance that waives a personal-jurisdiction challenge. If the Business Court lacks jurisdiction, it must remand the case. A party usually has 30 days after the notice of removal to move for remand, with a different clock for parties served later.
There is one date Texas litigators should keep in mind regarding the business court docket. H.B. 19 originally applied only to civil actions commenced on or after September 1, 2024. H.B. 40 added Section 25A.021, which now allows a pre-September 1, 2024, action to move into Business Court on agreed motion and with Business Court permission under Supreme Court rules. That change opened a narrow path for older cases, but not a free-for-all.
The Fifteenth Court of Appeals
The appellate side of this system is just as important as the trial side. Under the Texas rules now in effect, appeals and original proceedings from the Business Court follow the same general procedure used for district-court appeals, but the forum is different. Interlocutory appeals from the Business Court go to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, and the Fifteenth Court has exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over Business Court appeals. The Fifteenth Court began operating on September 1, 2024, and its published procedures describe that Business Court appeal path as one of its defining roles.
For trial teams, that means a Business Court case is not just a new trial-court assignment. It is part of a new trial-and-appeal pipeline. Decisions on injunction practice, record building, preservation, and briefing posture can carry straight into a dedicated appellate court rather than a regional court of appeals.
What Does This Change for Trial Readiness?
The Business Court is still young, but it is already changing how commercial cases should be prepared. In its first fiscal year, the court received 185 cases and issued 42 written opinions. The Supreme Court of Texas also adopted separate Business Court rules, and the local rules tie removed cases to early scheduling-order deadlines. Add the dedicated appellate path, jury-venue rules, and the need to evaluate removal early, and the result is a litigation track that rewards front-loaded planning.
That has direct implications for deposition strategy, transcript handling, hearing prep, and exhibit control. Jury trials in cases initially filed in Business Court generally occur in a county where the case could have been filed. In removed cases, the jury trial generally stays in the county where the action was originally filed unless the parties and the business court judge agree otherwise. So even when the judge and appeal path change, the record still has to be built with venue, preservation, and presentation in mind from the start.
Texas commercial litigators do not need to memorize every subsection of Chapter 25A to use this court well. They do, however, need to spot Business Court eligibility early, check whether the $5 million threshold applies, treat removal deadlines seriously, and prepare the record with the Fifteenth Court of Appeals already in view. That is where the Texas Business Court is most likely to change outcomes: not by changing every rule, but by forcing teams to consider forum, timing, and appellate posture earlier than they might in a standard district-court case.
Contact NAEGELI Deposition & Trial for Texas Business Court Litigation Support
When a case may land in the Texas Business Court, trial preparation starts early, and the record needs to hold up from motion practice through appeal to the Texas Supreme Court. NAEGELI Deposition & Trial supports Texas law firms and litigation teams with court reporting, transcript access and search, secure remote proceedings, exhibit handling, legal video, and trial presentation for complex commercial disputes.
Whether your team is preparing for Business Court proceedings, coordinating depositions across venues, or building a record with the Fifteenth Court of Appeals already in view, NAEGELI Deposition & Trial can help. Call (800) 528-3335, email schedule@naegeliusa.com, click “SCHEDULE NOW,” or use the website chat to connect with a client services specialist today.