The Texas Business Court was expecting its first jury trial to begin Monday in Fort Worth, but a settlement was reached in the case over the weekend.
Counsel met for a pretrial hearing Friday, planning to begin the jury trial on Monday, but they reached a settlement Saturday night.
CRS Mechanical filed fraud and fiduciary duty claims involving property in Nebraska against Norfolk Cold Storage a year ago.
Bill Johnson of Balch & Bingham was the lead counsel for the defendants. He said they were expecting to go to trial.
“I think both sides were ready to go to trial, but settlements can happen at any time,” Johnson said.
Derrick S. Boyd of Boyd Powers Williamson, who represented the plaintiff, agreed that they were also expected to proceed with the jury trial.
“We were full speed ahead with preparations for trial. We had had settlement discussions like in every case, and they were off again, on again,” Boyd said.
Boyd added that he was a little disappointed that they didn’t go to trial.
“There will always be part of me that wishes we had gone forward to be part of that first jury trial in the Business Court,” Boyd said.
Neither Johnson nor Boyd has other cases before the court, but both said it was a good experience. Boyd added that it was unusual not to have to delay the trial date even once.
The specialized court established over a year ago has been eagerly awaiting its first jury trial. This also would have been Eighth Division Judge Brian Stagner’s first jury trial on the bench. His first bench trial is scheduled for next month, but there are motions for summary judgment.
“It was sort of a mixed emotion between excitement to be the first and a little bit of trepidation about it,” Judge Stagner said.
The jury trial was going to be held at the Tom Vandergriff Civil Courts Building. Stagner said Tarrant County helped the court in providing space and ensuring it had everything it needed.
“They went above and beyond to make us feel welcome,” Judge Stagner said. “It was going to be sort of a nice novel experience for both of us.”
Judge Stagner said they kept calling it a dress rehearsal and that he is prepared for when he gets to have a jury trial.
“This was a fantastic rehearsal. We got everything smoothed over with the county. We know where we’re going next time. All of the jury scripts and instructions that I’m going to give to the jury I’ve now done, I can just bank those for a later day,” Judge Stagner said. “It wasn’t a wasted effort at all.”
The next two jury trials for the Business Court are scheduled next month in Houston, but Judge Stagner said anything can happen.