In re Medical Carbon Research Institute, L.L.C., No. 08-0298

Stay Issued: May 27, 2008

This mandamus petition concerns a contractual choice-of-forum clause that (the relators contend) should be enforced under Texas’s “major transaction” statute. See Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 15.020. Like many commercial relationships, this one involved a number of contracts. The court of appeals denied mandamus relief, concluding that the contract containing the forum-selection clause could not have been implicated here because it was not even signed “until weeks after suit was filed.” In re Medical Carbon Research Institute, L.L.C., No. 14-08-00104-CV (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.]) (orig. proceeding) (per curiam).

Today, the Texas Supreme Court issued a stay.

Update 5/28: The Court also requested full briefing on the merits.