Texas Business Court Opinion Summaries – January 31, 2025
No. 24-BC01A-0111 Osmose Utilities Services, Inc. v. Navarro County Electric Cooperative 24-bc01a-0011.pdf
[Judge Bouressa]
Removal and Remand. Underlying-plaintiff Martin sued multiple defendants in the 40th Judicial District Court, Ellis County, including Navarro Electric Co-op and Osmose, for severe electrocution-related injuries; Navarro settled with Martin. Osmose filed a cross-claim against Navarro seeking declaratory relief and contractual indemnification for Martin’s claims against it, citing provisions of a General Services Agreement between the two companies; Navarro filed a counterclaim against Osmose, alleging breach of both the agreement and a subsequently-executed pole inspection agreement. On November 4, 2024, Osmose filed a partial removal notice, seeking to remove Navarro’s counterclaim and its cross-claim to the Business Court. Navarro moves for remand, which Osmose opposes. HELD: Chapter 25A permits only removal of a lawsuit, and not individual claims within a lawsuit; under Texas law, the plain meaning of “action” is a lawsuit, unless the legislature includes other language (such as “claims” or “counterclaims”) which would require the term to be interpreted differently; looking at the statute as a whole, the Legislature’s use of the word “action” does not render Chapter 25A ambiguous; nor does this interpretation lead to an absurd result; as a result, the sole reasonable interpretation of Chapter 25A with respect to “actions” is that an action means a lawsuit and not individual claims within a lawsuit; since only actions can be removed, Osmose’s attempt to remove only part of the underlying case is improper. The court does not address the issue of whether this defect is jurisdictional, or relatedly, whether it is curable, because Navarro’s motion for remand must be granted on other established grounds, in that the action was commenced in September, 2022, and the court lacks jurisdiction over the action and must remand it to the 40th Judicial District Court, Ellis County, Texas. See, Energy Transfer LP, et al. v. Culberson Midstream, LLC, et al. 2024 Tex. Bus. 1 (Tex. Bus. Ct. Oct. 30, 2024) (holding Chapter 25A applies only to actions commenced on or after September 1, 2024).