Eighth Business Court Division — Judge Bullard's Specific… — 8th AJR, TX · BenchPath

Eighth Business Court Division — Judge Bullard's Specific Procedures (rev. Apr. 2, 2026)

High confidence· verified September 7, 2026Judge PreferencesJudge-Specific Procedures for Judge Bullard (Texas Business Court, Eighth Division, revised April 2, 2026), posted on the txcourts.gov Eighth Division page (media/1462507; custody sha256 820134a7…). Prior edition: TOPICs reg. doc 2240 (posted Jan. 15, 2025; custody sha256 8fb2e0c7…).

Summary

Judge Bullard's judge-specific procedures for cases assigned to Division 8A of the Eighth Business Court Division (revised April 2, 2026), supplementing the TRCP and the Business Court Local Rules: a joint proposed scheduling order and initial case status report within 30 days of the first defendant's appearance or of removal/transfer, a trial date within 13 months of filing obtained through the court manager, template protective orders presumed acceptable, mediation ordered in every scheduling order, early identification of legal issues under TRCP 166(g), (p), bound courtesy copies delivered 3 business days before a setting, Word proposed orders emailed to chambers, a 10-day response / 7-day reply default for opposed motions, in-person hearings and submission no earlier than 10 days after filing, Level 3 discovery with an ESI-protocol checklist and fee exposure for discovery abuse, a proposed pretrial order 7 days before the conference, timed trials, judgments within 30 days of a verdict or ruling, courtroom decorum, bankruptcy notice within 3 days, sealed attorney contact information within 24 hours of appearing, and a deadline to request written opinions. The April 2026 revision replaces the January 2025 procedures registered in TOPICs as doc 2240: responses moved from 5 days before a setting to 10 days after filing with a 7-day reply, the early-legal-issues and court-reporter sections were added, and trial dates now come from the court manager.

Applies to

Texas > Business Court, Eighth Division > cases assigned to Judge Jerry D. Bullard (Division 8A; BCDivision8A@txcourts.gov, (817) 618-6873; courtesy copies to 1515 Commerce Street, Suite 170, Fort Worth 76102). Supplements the TRCP and the Local Rules of the Texas Business Court (BCLR); Division 8B (Judge Stagner) publishes its own requirements. Procedural information only; not legal advice.

Source of truth

These procedures are adopted pursuant to a court's inherent power and authority to manage its docket and to control and guide the trial and disposition of cases. The following procedures are intended to supplement the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure (TRCP) and the Texas Business Court Local Rules (BCLR).

Official source: 1st Administrative Judicial Region & Texas Business Court — txcourts.gov instrument pages
Source health: Healthy · checked September 28, 2026
Effective date: April 2, 2026
Last verified: September 7, 2026benchpath-tx-f8-2026-09-07

Reviewer note: Recomposed 2026-09-07 (completeness fix F8) from the txcourts.gov Eighth Division posting (revised April 2, 2026; 14 pages, text layer read in full). The 2026-08-20 composition carried the January 2025 edition registered in TOPICs as doc 2240 and was scoped statewide and unjoined; the April 2026 revision moved response deadlines to 10 days after filing with a 7-day reply, added early identification of legal issues (TRCP 166(g), (p)) and a court-reporter section, and routes trial dates through the court manager. Now scoped to the Eighth Administrative Judicial Region, bound to the Eighth Division and Judge Bullard.