1-1     By:  Hartnett, Garcia (Senate Sponsor - Shapiro)       H.B. No. 412

 1-2           (In the Senate - Received from the House April 4, 1997;

 1-3     April 8, 1997, read first time and referred to Committee on

 1-4     Jurisprudence; May 6, 1997, reported favorably by the following

 1-5     vote:  Yeas 6, Nays 0; May 6, 1997, sent to printer.)

 1-6                            A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-7                                   AN ACT

 1-8     relating to the statutory county courts in Dallas County.

 1-9           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

1-10           SECTION 1.  Section 25.0592, Government Code, is amended by

1-11     adding Subsections (a), (c), and (d) to read as follows:

1-12           (a)  In addition to the jurisdiction provided by Section

1-13     25.0003 and other law, a county court at law in Dallas County has

1-14     concurrent jurisdiction with the district court in civil cases

1-15     regardless of the amount in controversy.

1-16           (c)  If a civil cause or proceeding that could have been

1-17     filed in a civil district court of Dallas County is filed in a

1-18     county court at law in Dallas County and the county court at law

1-19     does not have subject matter jurisdiction over the cause or

1-20     proceeding, the filing, docketing, or assignment of the cause or

1-21     proceeding in or to a county court at law is considered a clerical

1-22     error, and that clerical error shall be corrected by a judgment or

1-23     order nunc pro tunc.  The cause or proceeding is considered filed,

1-24     docketed, or assigned to the district court of the local

1-25     administrative judge in the first instance rather than to a county

1-26     court at law in Dallas County.  The judge of a county court at law

1-27     in Dallas County who acts in the cause or proceeding is considered

1-28     assigned to the district court of the local administrative judge

1-29     for that purpose and has all the powers of the judge of that

1-30     district court under the assignment.

1-31           (d)  Notwithstanding Section 31.004, Civil Practice and

1-32     Remedies Code, a judgment or determination of fact or law in a

1-33     proceeding in a county court at law in Dallas County is res

1-34     judicata and constitutes a basis for collateral estoppel in a

1-35     proceeding in any other court, except for appeals from other

1-36     tribunals.

1-37           SECTION 2.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-38     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-39     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-40     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-41     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,

1-42     and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its

1-43     passage, and it is so enacted.

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