§ 15.032.Insurance

Permissive venue for insurance litigation, splitting property coverage from life and accident coverage.

For fire, marine, or inland insurance companies, suit may also be commenced in any county where the insured property was situated. The word "also" confirms the section adds to the ordinary options rather than replacing them.

For a suit on a policy against a life, accident, health, or any combination insurance company, the section names three counties: the county where the company's principal office in this state is located; the county where the loss occurred; or the county where the policyholder or beneficiary bringing the suit resided when the cause of action accrued.

Note who the third option belongs to. It is the residence of the policyholder or beneficiary instituting the suit — not of the insured person, who in a life policy is by definition no longer available to sue.

The provision exists because insurers are typically domiciled in a small number of counties while their policyholders are spread across the state. Without it, a claimant in a rural county would routinely litigate a modest claim far from home.

The two halves cover different things. The first is about property and adds one county to the ordinary list. The second is about a suit on a policy and names its own three.

Note that suits under the Insurance Code or arising from an insurance contract are exempt from the TCPA, which removes the anti-SLAPP motion from this category of litigation entirely.