§ 15.004.Mandatory Venue Provisions Governs Multiple Claims

A short section with a large effect on pleading strategy.

Where a plaintiff properly joins two or more claims arising from the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences, and one of them is governed by a mandatory venue provision in Subchapter B, the whole suit must be brought in the county required by that provision.

One mandatory claim pulls everything with it. A petition combining a contract claim, a fraud claim, and a claim to remove an encumbrance from title must be filed where the land sits, because the title claim is mandatory and the others travel with it.

That cuts both ways. A plaintiff can secure a preferred county by including a mandatory claim, and a plaintiff can lose a preferred county by including one without noticing. The safest habit is to check every pleaded claim against Subchapter B before choosing where to file.

Two conditions limit the section, and both do real work. The claims must be properly joined, so a claim pleaded only to move the case is vulnerable. And they must arise from the same transaction or occurrence — unrelated claims bundled into one petition do not trigger it.

Note what happens when a case carries two mandatory claims pointing at different counties. The section says the suit goes to the county "required by the mandatory venue provision," in the singular, and gives no tie-breaker. In practice the plaintiff's choice among them stands unless a more specific provision controls.

The section is also expressly overridden where an executor, administrator, or guardian sues or is sued for personal injury, death, or property damage — the conflicts provision names this section first among the three it displaces.