§ 15.038.Other Permissive Venue

The permissive counterpart to the mandatory pointer, and it works the same way.

An action governed by any other statute prescribing permissive venue may be brought in the county that statute allows.

Like its mandatory twin, this keeps the definition of proper venue complete and means the venue analysis is not finished by reading chapter 15 alone. Permissive provisions appear across the Texas codes, and each one adds a county to the plaintiff's options.

The difference from the mandatory pointer matters. A permissive provision expands choice and can be given up by filing elsewhere; a mandatory one restricts it and can be enforced by mandamus.

A permissive county is still a proper county. Once a plaintiff files in one, a defendant cannot obtain a transfer merely by showing that some other county would also have been proper — the general rule fixes venue on the plaintiff's choice among proper counties.

But a permissive provision never beats a mandatory one. If any mandatory provision applies to the suit, whether in Subchapter B or imported from another code, it controls and the permissive option falls away.

The practical use is defensive as much as offensive: a plaintiff resisting a transfer motion should check whether an outside statute makes the chosen county proper, since chapter 15 alone may not say so.