Since the Texas Business Court launched in September 2024 to decide business-related lawsuits, it has become an increasingly active venue for sophisticated commercial litigation in Texas.
Together with the Fifteenth Court of Appeals, which handles business-related appeals, the Texas Business Court has created a specialized litigation pipeline to decide high-stakes commercial disputes in courts with experienced and business-savvy jurists. The resulting decisions may influence precedent in Texas. The Texas Business Court bears some similarities to the Delaware Court of Chancery and New York’s specialized Commercial Division, though it is the newest of the three entities.
In September 2026, the state released a mid-year report detailing the state of the Texas Business Court, with its 10 judges in five active divisions, from its caseload to the industries most entrenched in the court — and much more.
In this GT blog post, we summarize some of the key findings from the report.
A Steady Increase in Cases Under the Business Court’s Jurisdiction
On Jan. 1, 2025, the Texas secretary of state’s office announced that the state would kick off the year with 2.9 million active registered business entities. On Oct. 8, 2026, Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden said the state now has more than 3.2 million registered business entities.
As commercial operations in Texas have continued to grow, the Texas Business Court has seen an uptick in commercial litigation year over year.
Between September and December 2024, 57 matters were filed in the Texas Business Court; during the same period in 2025, the Texas Business Court received 103 filings. That marks a year-over-year increase of nearly 81%. Similarly, between January and April 2025, the Texas Business Court received 61 filings; for the same period in 2026, it received 110 — an 80% increase year over year.
As of April 30, 2026, the court averaged 27 filings per month in FY 2026, up from 16 in FY 2025. The state has not yet reported comparable figures for the remainder of FY 2026.
Common Case Categories and a ‘Business-Friendly’ Approach
While the Texas Business Court is designed to handle an array of complex business litigation issues, several types of cases dominated the litigation landscape between Sept. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2026.
According to the report, 53% of originating pleadings filed during that period involved corporate governance claims, while 37% involved qualified transactions1. The remaining 10% involved intellectual property matters or statutory or regulatory claims.
The fact that nearly 90% of originating pleadings in the Texas Business Court through April 30, 2026, involved corporate governance claims or qualified transactions shows that, even early in its existence, the court is handling the types of matters it was established to address.
Simultaneously, the Texas Business Court has begun developing a body of case law against the backdrop of what state officials consider “pro-growth, business-friendly” changes to Texas corporate law. For instance, Gov. Greg Abbott signed Texas Senate Bill 29 into law on May 14, 2025. The law amended the Texas Business Organizations Code, updating the business judgment rule, shareholder derivative actions, procedures governing internal entity claims, and more. The next Texas legislative session begins Jan. 12, 2027.
Texas’ business-friendly posture has extended beyond the legislative arena. On Oct. 8, Gov. Abbott announced that the state had launched online Texas Express services, allowing businesses to electronically submit documents to the Texas secretary of state’s office for same- or next-day processing through the state’s SOSPortal. Gov. Abbott’s press release noted that the program’s digitization is one way to “make it easier for Texans to do business within the state” and stated that it is part of Texas’ broader effort to modernize its systems. The updated process may reduce processing times for formations, mergers, conversions, and other corporate actions.
Industries of Interest
Of the 409 cases filed in the Texas Business Court between Sept. 1, 2024, and April 30, 2026, the report indicated that the “majority of actions concerned the energy, real estate, or technology industries.”
Each of those industries has a substantial commercial footprint in Texas.
2023 data from the Texas Comptroller’s office showed that Texas produces more than 12% of the nation’s total electricity, surpassing all other states; further, Texas produces 42% of domestically generated crude oil and 27% of domestically generated marketed natural gas.
Between 2012 and 2022, Texas added almost 4 million residents, a 15.1% increase (compared to a 6.2% increase for the same period nationally). The Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio regions recorded some of the highest growth patterns – and the existing Texas Business Court divisions operate in each of those locales.
During the same period, Texas increased employment in computer systems design and similar services by 123%. Data from a September 2026 report shows that Texas has seen a 44% increase in semiconductor firms over the past six years and that Texas has been the No. 1 exporter of U.S. semiconductor components over the past 15 years.
As the Texas Business Court’s docket continues to expand, the types of disputes it most frequently handles, as well as the industries it most often touches, may change.
Impact and Case Law
As of April 30, 2026, Texas Business Court judges had issued 82 written opinions and more than 2,200 orders. Judges also held more than 700 hearings and conferences. Five of the court’s 11 divisions are currently operational, and 2025 legislation authorized appointments for the remaining six divisions, subject to legislative appropriations.
The court has already ruled on a number of issues, including jurisdiction and removal, contractual disputes, fiduciary duties, corporate governance, and other procedural and substantive questions arising in complex business litigation.
As the Texas Business Court’s caseload and geographic reach continue to develop, its decisions may contribute to a growing body of case law enhancing predictability for business decisionmakers and further clarifying the means and methods of doing business in Texas.
1Texas law defines a “qualified transaction” as a transaction, or series of related transactions, under which a party (a) pays or receives, or is obligated to pay or entitled to receive, consideration with an aggregate value of at least $5 million or (b) lends, advances, borrows, receives, is obligated to lend or advance, or is entitled to borrow or receive money or credit with an aggregate value of at least $5 million.