The 15th Court of Appeals has remanded a case to the Tarrant County business court on the basis that is has no jurisdiction over direct appeals from a remand order.
ETC Field Services LLC f/k/a Regency Field Services, LLC v. TEMA Oil and Gas Company (No. 15-24-000124-CV; February 21, 2025) is one of several appeals taken from the new statewide business court’s orders remanding a civil action back the trial court from whence it came. Noting that the 15th Court’s enabling statute does not authorize an interlocutory appeal of a remand order from the business court (though the bill filed in 2021 did), the court declined to assume that authority on its own. Since the statute (Chapter 25A, Government Code) only gives the court jurisdiction over final judgments, the court observed that remand issue doesn’t meet the test of finality.
ETC argued that the business court’s remand order was “in the nature of a plea to the jurisdiction” and thus qualified for interlocutory relief under § 51.014(a)(8), CPRC. But that statute only applies to a plea filed by a governmental unit, not a private entity. Since ETC separately filed a mandamus petition, the court went on, it “[had] no need to consider whether to treat this interlocutory appeal” as reviewable as “an order denying such a plea [the the jurisdiction] by a nongovernnmental party.” The court thus dismissed the direct appeal.
