Jackson Walker secured a significant appellate victory for JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., on May 8, 2026, when the Texas Supreme Court reversed a lower-court ruling that had declared economic development agreements unconstitutional under article III, section 52-a of the Texas Constitution.

The case stems from the City of Corsicana’s and Navarro County’s use of economic development agreements to attract retailer Gander Mountain to build a new store in Corsicana that would serve as an anchor tenant in a shopping center owned by the Corsicana Industrial Foundation. Those agreements, like other economic-development grants utilized to spur development, granted certain sales‑tax revenues generated by the shopping center to the Foundation to help repay a loan refinanced by Chase to construct the Gander Mountain store.

After opening its Corsicana store in 2004, Gander Mountain operated for 11 years, and the City and County made quarterly payments to the Foundation based on the sales taxes generated by the Gander Mountain store and surrounding development. But when Gander Mountain closed its store in 2015, the City and County attempted to rescind their deal, unilaterally determined that the public purpose of their agreements was extinguished, ceased remitting sales tax revenue to the Foundation, and obtained summary judgment declaring the agreements unconstitutional, unenforceable, and void. After the Waco Court of Appeals affirmed that summary judgment in a split opinion, the Texas Supreme Court granted Chase’s petition for review.

In a unanimous opinion authored by Chief Justice Blacklock, the Supreme Court addressed—for the first time—section 52-a and its interplay with the Court’s traditional Gift Clause jurisprudence. The Court held that its prior case law also applies to section 52-a economic development grants, concluded that the court of appeals misapplied that law, and reversed the grant of summary judgment to the City and County.

The Jackson Walker team representing JPMorgan Chase Bank was led by partners Brett Kutnick and Cody A. Martinez.

The case is JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. City of Corsicana and Navarro County, No. 24-0102, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2026 WL 1261549 (Tex. May 8, 2026).

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