By:  Brown                                             S.B. No. 439
       73R2316 DAK-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the specification of venue for actions arising from
    1-3  certain major transactions.
    1-4        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-5        SECTION 1.  Subchapter A, Chapter 15, Civil Practice and
    1-6  Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 15.002 to read as
    1-7  follows:
    1-8        Sec. 15.002.  MAJOR TRANSACTIONS:  SPECIFICATION BY AGREEMENT
    1-9  OF VENUE.   (a)  In this section, "major transaction" means one
   1-10  transaction or a series of transactions under which a person pays
   1-11  or receives, or is obligated to pay or entitled to receive,
   1-12  consideration with an aggregate value equal to or greater than $1
   1-13  million.
   1-14        (b)  An action arising from a major transaction may be
   1-15  brought in a county if the party against whom the action is brought
   1-16  has agreed in writing that a suit arising from the transaction may
   1-17  be brought in that county.
   1-18        (c)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this title, an
   1-19  action arising from a major transaction may not be brought in a
   1-20  county if:
   1-21              (1)  the party bringing the action has agreed in
   1-22  writing that an action arising from the transaction may not be
   1-23  brought in that county, and the action may be brought in another
   1-24  county of this state or in another jurisdiction; or
    2-1              (2)  the party bringing the action has agreed in
    2-2  writing that an action arising from the transaction must be brought
    2-3  in another county of this state or in another jurisdiction, and the
    2-4  action may be brought in that other county, under this section or
    2-5  otherwise, or in that other jurisdiction.
    2-6        (d)  This section does not apply to an action if the
    2-7  agreement described by this section was unconscionable at the time
    2-8  that it was made.
    2-9        (e)  This section does not affect venue and jurisdiction in
   2-10  an action arising from a transaction that is not a major
   2-11  transaction.
   2-12        SECTION 2.  This Act applies only to a cause of action
   2-13  accruing on or after the effective date of this Act, without regard
   2-14  to whether an agreement relating to the venue of the action was
   2-15  made before, on, or after the effective date of this Act.  A cause
   2-16  of action accruing before the effective date of this Act is
   2-17  governed by the law in effect at the time the cause of action
   2-18  accrued, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.
   2-19        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-25  passage, and it is so enacted.