§ 15.035.Contract in Writing

Two rules, and the second is a consumer protection that overrides the first.

Subsection (a) is the general permissive rule. Where a person has contracted in writing to perform an obligation in a particular county, expressly naming the county or a definite place in it, suit on that obligation may be brought either in that county or where the defendant may otherwise be sued.

The requirement is strict: the writing must expressly name the county or a definite place. A contract that is silent, or that merely implies a place of performance, does not create venue under this section.

Subsection (b) is the consumer rule, and it converts the permission into a restriction. In an action founded on a contractual obligation to pay money arising out of a consumer transaction for goods, services, loans, or extensions of credit intended primarily for personal, family, household, or agricultural use, a creditor may bring suit only in the county where the contract was signed or where the defendant resides.

That provision addresses a documented practice: creditors suing consumers in distant counties named in form contracts, where the debtor cannot practically appear and default judgment follows. The justice court venue rules contain a parallel restriction, and there it is expressly non-waivable.