In 2023 the Texas Legislature created a new intermediate appellate court with statewide jurisdiction, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals. The court’s initial term began on September 1, 2024.
The court has exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over the following:
- constitutional challenges;
- matters arising out of or related to civil appeals brought by or against the State of Texas or a board, commission, department, office, or other agency in the executive branch of state government, including an institution of higher education;
- appeals from suits against an officer or employee of the state or a board, commission, department, office, or other agency in the executive branch arising out of that officer’s or employee’s official conduct (with specified exceptions); and
- appeals from the Texas Business Court (also created in 2023).
For its initial term expiring on December 31, 2026, the Governor appointed three justices, each with extensive appellate judicial experience: Chief Justice Scott Brister, who previously served on the Texas Supreme Court, as justice and chief justice of the Houston First and Fourteenth Courts of Appeals, and as presiding judge of the 234th District Court in Harris County; Justice Scott Field, a trial and appellate attorney who served on the Austin Court of Appeals and as judge of the 480th District Court in Williamson County; and Justice April Farris, an appellate attorney with experience in complex business litigation, former Assistant Solicitor General for the State of Texas, and former justice of the Houston First Court of Appeals. Effective September 1, 2027, the court will expand to five members, meaning that Governor Abbott will appoint two additional justices on or after that date.
The Fifteenth Court is of supreme importance to Texas business and industry. Created side-by-side with the new Texas Business Court, the statewide court of appeals has exclusive authority over Business Court decisions in litigation involving complex issues of corporate governance and high-stakes business disputes. Prior to the establishment of the Business Court, these matters had to wait in line in general jurisdiction district and county courts with overcrowded dockets, dramatically increasing the expense and time required to resolve business disputes. Appeals of decisions from these courts flowed up through the 14 intermediate appellate courts across the state, whose decisions were only binding within the specific geographical boundaries of their jurisdiction. This fragmentation often resulted in inconsistency and unpredictability of outcomes, exacerbated by the potential for conflicting authority among different courts of appeals districts. To make matters more difficult for business, the Texas Supreme Court only accepts about 100 cases a year, so in the vast majority of cases businesses who believe that the court of appeals got it wrong simply had to live with it (and the long years it took to finally resolve the dispute).
All of that has changed for the better. Complex business disputes now go directly to a trial court dedicated to resolving them quickly and efficiently. Parties are getting rulings within weeks instead of months (or in some cases years). If they are unhappy with the results at the Business Court, they can appeal directly to a statewide appellate court designed specifically to hear their cases and, like the Business Court, decide them in a fraction of the time it used to take in the old process. Additionally, the decisions of the Fifteenth Court apply statewide. No longer will different courts of appeals produce different rulings, binding only in the part of the state where the court is located and in potential conflict with its sister courts. One statewide court will also promote uniformity and develop a single, consistent body of law interpreting legal questions affecting businesses. Over time this body of law will become settled, allowing businesses to conduct their operations with certainty and confidence that the rules won’t change in the middle of the game. Finally, the quality and consistency of the Fifteenth Court’s decisions will generally obviate the need for the Texas Supreme Court to feel compelled to correct the errors of 14 courts of appeals. In other words, a costly and time-intensive step in the legal process has in most cases been eliminated. Instead of pouring resources into seemingly endless appeals, businesses can get back to doing business.
A little more than a year into the operation of the new court, the evidence is mounting that the Fifteenth Court (as well as the Business Court) is working precisely as the Legislature intended. Appeals are moving swiftly through the court, and thus far appeals from the court’s decisions to the Texas Supreme Court seem to be few and far between. This positive trend is a tribute to the quality of Governor Abbott’s appointments to the court and to the dedication and hard work of the jurists themselves. But we should not forget that Texas has an elected judiciary, and the Fifteenth Court is no exception. (Business Court judges are appointed for two-year terms, so they do have to run for election.) Each of the initial three appointees will face the voters this November, and the additional two that will be appointed in the fall of 2027 will go before the electorate in 2028. Given the vagaries of partisan politics, there can be no guarantee that the excellence we currently see on the court can be indefinitely maintained.
That’s why business and industry must be vigilant about this court and do everything possible to support experienced and qualified candidates, such as the three incumbents on this year’s ballot. Failure to do so could frustrate the Legislature’s purpose in creating the court and undermine the stability of Texas business law in the future. But if we do our part, we can look forward to sustaining and building upon the strongest business climate in the country.
