Riverside Strategic Capital Fund I v. CLG Investments

Excerpt

This opinion addresses when statutes of limitations accrue and the application of the discovery rule and fraudulent concealment principles regarding claims of fraudulent statements contained in a securities purchase agreement. On a renewed motion to remand, the Court holds that it lacks subject-matter jurisdiction over the action as pleaded in the plaintiff's Fourth Amended Petition and remands the case. The Court concludes that it (a) cannot exercise supplemental jurisdiction because the plaintiff never agreed that the action could proceed in this Court; (b) does not have qualified-transaction jurisdiction because the value of the consideration for the alleged prospective contract, determined at the time of the transaction, would be below the minimum; and (c) does not have trade-regulation jurisdiction because the alleged negligence per se claim, if recognized in Texas, would be a tort claim rather than a trade-regulation claim. Granting a special appearance due to no minimum contacts in Texas. This case presents two issues: (i) whether the Business Court has subject-matter jurisdiction over the plaintiff's application for an involuntary winding-up of a limited liability company, and, if so, (ii) whether an earlier-filed lawsuit in district court between the same parties requires dismissal or abatement of this action under the doctrine of dominant jurisdiction. The Court concludes it has subject-matter jurisdiction and that the district court case and this case are not sufficiently interrelated to invoke dominant jurisdiction. Accordingly, the defendants' motion to dismiss, plea to the jurisdiction, and plea in abatement are denied. This case concerns whether (i) a party must file a separate removal notice, consent to removal, or join in another party's notice to argue that the case is removed as to it; (ii) claims alleging common law and statutory fraud inducing a member to enter an LLC company agreement are actions "regarding" the company's "internal affairs" or