AUSTIN — Gov. Abbott has signed bills enabling the formation of new business courts to handle complex legal disputes, as well a bill increasing judicial education, earning the praise of Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse.
House Bill 19 creates a new business court to hear business-to-business lawsuits.
According to TALA, not only will the bill ensure business-to-business cases and board governance matters receive the expertise of specialized judges to hear these complex cases, but the legislation also helps ensure Texans would continue to have access to courts for cases of personal injury, wrongful death, family law and other non-business matters.
SB 1045 establishes the 15th Court of Appeals to handle business-to-business lawsuits ruled on by the new business court created by HB 19, ensuring the new specialty court system could function fully and effectively by establishing a new appellate court to handle these business specialty cases under appeal.
“Enactment of House Bill 19 and Senate Bill 1045 will help ensure fair access to our courts and bring Texas in line with 29 other states with specialty courts focused on corporate governance lawsuits and complex business-to-business cases,” said Robert Wood, spokesperson for TALA.
“Given Texas’s continued dramatic economic growth, ensuring we have a court system to accommodate major business-to-business disputes and appeals dealing with statewide issues makes common sense. We thank Governor Greg Abbott for signing both of these important measures.”
TALA also thanked Abbott for signing HB 2384, which will increase judicial training and transparency by requiring a judicial candidate’s ballot application to include the candidate’s bar number and disclosure of any public sanction, censure or disciplinary sanctions in Texas or another state.
“Texans Against Lawsuit Abuse know that good judges matter and that a fair civil justice system should require judges to meet the highest standards of excellence,” Wood said. “We applaud Governor Abbott for signing House Bill 2384 into law. This bill addresses the essential aspects of knowledge, efficiency, training, and transparency within the judiciary, ensuring a fair and effective judicial system for all Texans.
“We should all want our judges to demonstrate the highest level of skill and competence, and this legislation will help bring uniformity, transparency, and accountability to our courts and to the voters that elect our judges.”