Texas Business Court Decision – Tuesday, February 11, 2025
No. 24-BC03B-003 Sandeep Yadav, etc. v. Rajeeva Agrawal, et al. 24-bc03b-0003.pdf
[Judge Sweeten, Author, Third Division]
Jurisdiction (Section 8) and Later filed Claims. This suit over control of 3T Federal was initiated on May 1, 2024, when plaintiff, individually and derivatively on behalf of 3T, filed suit in Travis County District Court, alleging claims for breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, and declaratory relief. Defendants answered and counterclaimed and both sides sought injunctive relief. Defendants filed a notice of removal to Business Court on September 30. On October 4, defendants filed a First Amended Counterclaim, Original Petition in Intervention, and Original Third Party Claims in the Business Court in the same action; 3T filed, as part of this motion package, a petition in intervention. Plaintiff moved to remand to Harris County District Court for lack of jurisdiction based on H.B. 19 Section 8.
Held: (1) the Business Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear cases commenced prior to September 1, 2024, and the action commenced prior to that date: (2) the Business Court lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over the claims asserted in defendants’ October 4, 2024 pleading as they are in the same case, are part of the action, and therefore are subject to remand with the underlying action filed by plaintiff; (3) defendants’ counterclaims are not separate actions but are, instead, part of the underlying suit; (4) 3T’s petition in intervention, filed as part of the October 4 pleading, was an attempt to intervene in an existing lawsuit and prevent multiple suits concerning the same subject, and to resolve claims in the existing action; as such, it was part of an action already commenced; (5) 3T’s third-party claims in the October 4 pleading were also part of the initial May 2, 2024 lawsuit and were not separate actions commenced after September 1.
The court lacks jurisdiction and the case is remanded to the 419th District Court of Travis County.