§ 154.022.Notification and Objection

The objection procedure, and it is short enough to miss.

Notice comes first. A court that determines a pending dispute is appropriate for referral must notify the parties of that determination.

Any party has 10 days after receiving the notice to file a written objection.

The deadline is strict and short. A party who wants to stay out of a court-ordered procedure has to act within days of the notice.

The objection must be written. An oral protest at a hearing is not what the subsection describes.

The standard is a reasonable basis. If the court finds one, it may not refer the dispute under Section 154.021.

The court decides whether the basis is reasonable, so an objection is a request, not a veto.

The section is what makes the referral power tolerable. Courts can order parties into a procedure they did not choose, and this is the check on it.

The notice is a determination, not an order. The court tells the parties it considers the dispute appropriate for referral, and the objection window opens from there.

Reasonable basis is not defined. The section leaves the standard to the court, which is what allows an objection grounded in cost, timing or the nature of the dispute to be weighed on its own facts.