WHY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESSES SHOULD LOOK TO TEXAS FOR THEIR US DISPUTES
Within two years of opening on 1 September 2024, the Texas Business Court had already attracted hundreds of filings, held a jury trial over ownership rights in a crude oil delivery project valued at up to $1bn, and produced a $49m verdict in another case.
For international businesses deciding where to litigate a US commercial dispute, that early record makes Texas more than a regional venue – it places a specialised, fast-moving court squarely on the forum-selection map.
The Business Court is a single, statewide Texas court organised into five geographic divisions: Dallas, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and San Antonio. Appeals from all five divisions go exclusively to the newly created Fifteenth Court of Appeals, giving the state a unified and specialised appellate track for business disputes.
Unlike Texas’s general civil district judges, whose dockets can contain hundreds of cases spanning disputes from car accidents and personal injuries to medical malpractice, Business Court judges have much lighter caseloads and hear only complex business disputes. Each judge must have at least 10 years of experience practicing complex business litigation or other similar experience. So, the court’s bench brings extensive, directly relevant experience to the disputes the court is designed to handle.
The court’s jurisdiction is similarly focused. Generally, it covers business disputes involving at least $5m in controversy. These disputes may involve corporate governance, breaches of fiduciary duty or claims under the Texas Business Organizations Code. Many cases before the court arise from ‘qualified transactions’, meaning business transactions valued at $5m or more.
Oct-Dec 2026 issue
Scale LLP