By Hartnett, Garcia                                    H.B. No. 412

         75R2370 MLS-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the statutory county courts in Dallas County.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 25.0592, Government Code, is amended by

 1-5     adding Subsections (a), (c), and (d) to read as follows:

 1-6           (a)  In addition to the jurisdiction provided by Section

 1-7     25.0003 and other law, a county court at law in Dallas County has

 1-8     concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in civil cases

 1-9     regardless of the amount in controversy.

1-10           (c)  If a civil cause or proceeding that could have been

1-11     filed in a civil district court of Dallas County is filed in a

1-12     county court at law in Dallas County and the county court at law

1-13     does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the cause or

1-14     proceeding, the filing, docketing, or assignment of the cause or

1-15     proceeding in or to a county court at law is considered a clerical

1-16     error, and that clerical error shall be corrected by a judgment or

1-17     order nunc pro tunc.  The cause or proceeding is considered filed,

1-18     docketed, or assigned to the district court of the local

1-19     administrative judge in the first instance rather than to a county

1-20     court at law in Dallas County.  The judge of a county court at law

1-21     in Dallas County who acts in the cause or proceeding is considered

1-22     assigned to the district court of the local administrative judge

1-23     for that purpose and has all the powers of the judge of that

1-24     district court under the assignment.

 2-1           (d)  Notwithstanding Section 31.004, Civil Practice and

 2-2     Remedies Code, a judgment or determination of fact or law in a

 2-3     proceeding in a county court at law in Dallas County is res

 2-4     judicata and constitutes a basis for collateral estoppel in a

 2-5     proceeding in any other court, except for appeals from other

 2-6     tribunals.

 2-7           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

2-12     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

2-13     passage, and it is so enacted.