June 18, 2024
Texas Governor Greg Abbott continues to announce the first wave of judicial appointees to the Texas Business Court and the intermediate court of appeals, which will oversee them, all of which are slated to go into effect on September 1, 2024.
On June 9, 2023, Governor Abbott signed S.B. 1045 into law, which created the Fifteenth Court of Appeals and granted it exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over civil cases involving certain lawsuits brought against the State of Texas, state agencies, and state officials, as well as certain cases involving a challenge to the constitutionality or validity of a state statute or rule.1 The same day, Governor Abbott also signed H.B. 19 into law, which created the Texas Business Court — specialty trial courts with jurisdiction over certain civil cases involving commercial disputes — and in turn vested exclusive intermediate appellate jurisdiction over decisions from the Texas Business Court in the Fifteenth Court of Appeals.
On June 11, 2024, Governor Abbott announced his first three appointees to the Fifteenth Court of Appeals: (1) Scott A. Brister as Chief Justice, Place 1; (2) Scott K. Field, Place 2; and (3) April L. Farris, Place 3.
