Texas Business Court Holds Legislative Reduction of Amount-in-Controversy Threshold Constitutes 'Fact' Permitting Second Removal

The Business Court of Texas held that House Bill 40's reduction of the jurisdictional threshold from $10 million to $5 million constituted a discoverable 'fact' under Section 25A.006(f)(1)(B), permitting EOG Resources to remove a breach of contract action two days after the statute's effective date despite the Court having previously remanded the case for failure to meet the higher threshold. OWL AssetCo, a water services provider seeking indemnification for produced water contamination damages in Eddy County, New Mexico operations, argued the statutory change was not a 'fact' and that EOG's removal was untimely.