§ 101.102.Commencement of Suit

Three procedural requirements for commencing the suit.

Venue is mandatory and specific: a suit shall be brought in state court in the county in which the cause of action or a part of the cause of action arises.

Note "in state court" — the section directs where the case is filed, and the county requirement admits no alternative. A claimant cannot use the general venue rules to choose among counties.

Subsection (b): the pleadings must name as defendant the governmental unit against which liability is to be established. Suing an official, a department, or a facility rather than the unit itself is a defect — and given the election of remedies section, naming an employee instead carries a further consequence.

Subsection (c) sets out service in three tiers. In a suit against the state, citation must be served on the secretary of state. In other suits, citation is served as in other civil cases. Where no method of service is provided by law, service may be on the administrative head of the governmental unit.

And a fallback: if the administrative head is not available, the court may authorize service in any manner that affords the governmental unit a fair opportunity to answer and defend.

That last clause states the underlying test plainly, and it is the standard the whole sequence serves.

The attorney general must separately be mailed a copy of the petition in cases involving the state or its agencies, and a failure there sets aside any default judgment.