Patrick K. Sweeten
How Judge Sweeten rules, drawn from 3 signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
About Judge Sweeten
Patrick K. Sweeten joined the Texas Business Court’s Third Division in September 2024 after appointment by Governor Greg Abbott. He previously served as principal deputy general counsel to the governor and as a deputy attorney general for special litigation. He earned degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and St. Mary’s University School of Law.
Judge Sweeten's practices and standing orders
Rules for cases before Judge Sweeten, as published on the court's website (checked October 11, 2026). Judges revise these often, so confirm the current version on the court's site before you file.
- Third Division Court Procedures ↗
- Proposed Scheduling Order ↗
- Joint Advisory of Early Legal Issues ↗
- Proposed Pretrial Order ↗
- Notice of Written Submission ↗
- Example Protective Order 1 ↗
- Example Protective Order 2 (optional governmental entity provisions) ↗
- Example Protective Order 3 ↗
Key rules
Discovery
Attach the relevant discovery request and any objection or response to Third Division motions to compel and related letters.
“Motions to compel and any related letters under BCLR 4 must attach the discovery request and any objection or response to the request”
Conferences
In the Third Division, jointly file the proposed scheduling order on the court’s form before the scheduling conference.
“The BCLR require parties to confer on and jointly file a ‘Proposed Scheduling Order’ using the form provided.”
Sealing
When filing protected information in the Third Division, first e-file a copy redacting only that information.
“The filing party must efile a redacted copy of the document(s) that redacts the Protected Information only.”
How Judge Sweeten decides
Patterns drawn from this judge's own signed orders. Every observation links to the order it came from.
What persuades
On the Business Court's own commencement-date jurisdictional limit, he treats a lawsuit's later-filed intervention, counterclaims, and third-party claims as part of the single action that commenced when the original petition was filed, not as independent, separately dated actions, so a case filed too early to fall within the court's jurisdiction cannot be salvaged by adding new claims or parties after the court opened.
“subsequent petitions by defendants against new parties become part of an action that has already commenced”
Procedural preferences
On the qualified-transaction jurisdictional threshold, he reads it to reach a general contractor's third-party claims against subcontractors so long as they arise from the same underlying contract dispute, rather than requiring each individual third-party claim to independently clear the dollar threshold on its own.
“the Court concludes that the lawsuit and third-party claims meet the definition of an ‘action arising out of a qualified transaction’ under Section 25A.004(d)(1) and are within the Business Court's jurisdiction”
Cautions
In Brown v. Exxon Mobil Corporation, Judge Sweeten found that restricted stock units were only one part of the requested damages and were not the but-for cause of the discrimination suit, so they did not establish qualified-transaction jurisdiction.
“the RSUs are one of several damages claims Brown is pursuing and are not a ‘but-for’ cause of the litigation”
Signed rulings
A grounded sample of orders signed by this judge, with the verbatim dispositive language.
“For the reasons stated above, the Court lacks jurisdiction of this action in its entirety, including all claims filed in the October 4th Pleading, and therefore remands this case to the 419th District Court of Travis County, Texas.”
“For the reasons stated above, the Court denies Ryan's Plea to the Jurisdiction.”
“For the foregoing reasons, Plaintiff's Motion to Remand is hereby GRANTED. It is therefore ORDERED that the above captioned case be remanded to the 11th District Court of Harris County.”
Draft for Judge Sweeten with the record in hand
Ezel grounds your drafting and research in this profile: what has persuaded Judge Sweeten, and what has not, cited to the signed orders.
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