By: Van Arsdale, O'Day, Goolsby, H.B. No. 1602

Cook of Navarro, Strama, et al.

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to venue in civil actions under the Jones Act.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. Section 15.018, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 15.018. FEDERAL EMPLOYERS' LIABILITY ACT [AND JONES ACT]. (a) This section only applies to suits brought under the federal Employers' Liability Act (45 U.S.C. Section 51 et seq.) [or the Jones Act (46 U.S.C. Section 688)].

(b) All suits brought under the federal Employers' Liability Act [or the Jones Act] shall be brought:

(1) in the county in which all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred;

(2) in the county where the defendant's principal office in this state is located; or

(3) in the county where the plaintiff resided at the time the cause of action accrued.

SECTION 2. Subchapter B, Chapter 15, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 15.0181 to read as follows:

Sec. 15.0181. JONES ACT. (a) In this section:

(1) "Coastal county" means:

(A) a county in a coastal area, as defined by Section 33.004, Natural Resources Code; or

(B) a county having a United States Customs port through which waterborne freight is transported.

(2) "Inland waters" means the navigable waters shoreward of the navigational demarcation lines dividing the high seas from harbors, rivers, and other inland waters of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and along the Gulf of Mexico shoreline of Florida from the Florida-Alabama border up to and including the shoreline of Key West, Florida.

(3) "Principal Texas port center" means:

(A) a county in this state with a population of more than three million that is adjoined by a coastal county; or

(B) a coastal county adjoining a county described by Paragraph (A) with a population of more than 225,000.

(b) This section applies only to suits brought under the Jones Act (46 U.S.C. Section 688).

(c) Except as provided by this section, a suit brought under the Jones Act shall be brought:

(1) in the county where the defendant's principal office in this state is located; or

(2) in the county where the plaintiff resided at the time the cause of action accrued.

(d) If all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred ashore in this state or on the inland waters of this state, the suit shall be brought:

(1) in the county in which all or a substantial part of the events giving rise to the claim occurred; or

(2) in the county where the defendant's principal office in this state is located.

(e) If all or a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise to the claim occurred ashore in a Gulf Coast state other than this state or on the inland waters of a Gulf Coast state other than this state, the suit shall be brought:

(1) in a principal Texas port center where the plaintiff resided at the time the cause of action accrued;

(2) if the plaintiff did not reside in a principal Texas port center at the time the cause of action accrued, in any principal Texas port center;

(3) in the county where the defendant's principal office in this state is located if the defendant's principal office in this state is located in a coastal county; or

(4) if the defendant does not have a principal office in this state located in a coastal county, in the county where the plaintiff resided at the time the cause of action accrued.

SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only to an action commenced on or after the effective date of this Act. An action commenced before the effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for that purpose.

SECTION 4. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2007.