A Texas Business Court judge has dismissed Fort Worth Councilman Michael Crain's lawsuit against his former business partner Will Northern, ending a bitter fight over who had rights to the massive Woodhaven Country Club redevelopment. Judge Jerry Bullard's ruling did not touch the underlying claims of the case, and Crain says he plans to appeal.
Crain filed the lawsuit in June 2025, alleging that Northern improperly used confidential information, resources and personnel belonging to their shared firm, Northern Crain Realty, to pursue what turned into a potentially lucrative real estate venture, as reported by the Fort Worth Report. The suit originally sought more than $1 million in damages and an injunction blocking further development action, and it was first filed in Tarrant County's 67th District Court before landing in the newly created Texas Business Court Eighth Division, which sits in Fort Worth, according to the North Central Texas Council of Governments.
Crain says the court lacked jurisdiction over the matter, and he did not hold back in his reaction to the ruling. He said the case was resolved through a procedural ruling rather than a hearing on the underlying facts or merits of the claims, and added that the record produced during the proceedings was incomplete and partly inaccurate.
A Jurisdictional Fight Over Dollar Amounts
The dismissal traces back to a dispute over money. Crain's legal team argued the roughly $1 million damages claim fell below the specialized business court's amount-in-controversy threshold, according to reporting from The Real Deal. The business court, created under House Bill 19 in 2023, initially required a $10 million threshold for commercial disputes; the Texas Legislature lowered that bar to $5 million through House Bill 40, effective September 1, 2025, per the law firm Steptoe LLP. Even at the lower threshold, Bullard ultimately ruled in Northern's favor.
Judge Bullard was appointed to the Eighth Business Court Division by Governor Greg Abbott in September 2024 and was reappointed in August 2026 to a term running through 2028, bringing more than 30 years of civil appellate and trial experience in North Texas to the bench, per the Bandera Bulletin.
Two Versions of How the Deal Went Down
Northern, for his part, has offered a starkly different account of Crain's role in the Woodhaven project. According to the Fort Worth Report, Northern said Crain had no interest in the redevelopment and invested no time, money or effort into it, going so far as to say Crain used the courts to try to profit off the project after the fact. Crain, meanwhile, maintains that Northern and others acted without his knowledge or consent to exclude him and their firm from the Woodhaven property transaction entirely.
The dispute grew out of a business relationship that dated back years. Crain and Northern had co-owned Northern Crain Realty before Northern went on to acquire the 149-acre former Woodhaven Country Club, along with 14 adjacent commercial acres, for an $8.5 million credit bid at a foreclosure auction in May 2024, after assuming $12 million in defaulted debt through an entity called Woodhaven Concerto No. 1 LP, according to WFAA. Before forming Crescendo Development to pursue the project, Northern had served three terms as chair of Fort Worth's Zoning Commission, per The Real Deal.
The Golf Course That Wouldn't Come Back
The Woodhaven property has a long history in East Fort Worth. Built in the 1970s as a prominent social and civic hub, the country club suffered years of declining membership and the golf course closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, per the Fort Worth Report, with the club permanently shutting down in 2022. The site then sat vacant for roughly two years before Northern's acquisition, according to WFAA.
Now Crescendo Development is working with a housing development company, Blue Ridge Cascade, to build a mixed-use project on the former golf course. At a City Plan Commission meeting last September, Crescendo framed the redevelopment as a $167.7 million private investment expected to create nearly 1,000 jobs and generate $15.6 million in local tax revenue over a decade, per The Real Deal, with plans calling for mixed-use commercial space, residential units and open space. Crescendo has said it will continue meetings with Woodhaven neighborhood residents as the project moves forward, according to the Fort Worth Report.
Crain's Recusal and a Separate Legal Trouble
Crain's dual role as both a Fort Worth city councilman and a party to the litigation has shaped how the redevelopment moved through City Hall. In February 2025, the Fort Worth City Council voted to rezone the Woodhaven site for the multi-use project, and Crain abstained from that vote because of his business relationship with Northern, as The Real Deal reported — a step required under municipal standards when council members face financial conflicts of interest.
The lawsuit dismissal comes against the backdrop of a separate, unrelated legal matter for the District 3 councilman. Crain, who has represented District 3 on the Fort Worth City Council since 2021, was arrested on DWI charges in Tarrant County in January. That case is separate from the civil litigation over Woodhaven, but it has added to the scrutiny surrounding Crain's tenure on the council even as the $167.7 million redevelopment project keeps advancing through the municipal approval process. Crain has said he intends to appeal Bullard's dismissal, meaning the fight over Woodhaven's origins is likely far from over.
