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House Bill 1602 |
House Author: Van Arsdale et al. |
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Effective: 5-24-07 |
Senate Sponsor: Fraser |
Previous law provided uniform venue options for bringing a lawsuit under the Federal Employers' Liability Act or the federal Jones Act, which establish a cause of action for the injury or death in the course of employment of a railroad worker or a seaman, respectively. The venue options for a suit filed under either act included the county where all or a substantial part of the actions giving rise to the claim occurred, the county where the defendant's principal office in this state was located, or the county where the plaintiff resided when the cause of action accrued. House Bill 1602 amends the Civil Practice and Remedies Code to create separate venue options for Jones Act lawsuits, providing the same filing options as previous law for such suits generally and adding other options if certain conditions exist. If all or a substantial part of the actions giving rise to the claim occurred in Texas ‑ on inland waters, on shore, or while working on an erosion response project ‑ the suit may be brought either in the county where the action occurred or in the county where the defendant's principal office in Texas is located. If all or a substantial part of the actions occurred on certain inland waters outside Texas, or on shore or while working on an erosion response project in the Gulf Coast states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, or Mississippi, the suit may be filed in the county where the defendant's principal office in Texas is located if that office is in a coastal county, Harris County, or Galveston County under certain conditions, or in the county where the plaintiff resided when the cause of action accrued if the defendant does not have a principal office in a Texas coastal county.