§ 15.039.Transient Person

Venue rules assume a defendant has a residence. This section handles the defendant who does not.

A transient person may be sued in any county in which he may be found.

Without it, a plaintiff with a claim against someone of no fixed abode would have no county of residence to fall back on, and the general rule's residence-based options would supply nothing.

The section is permissive, so it adds the county where the person is found to whatever other options exist — the county of the events, for instance, remains available.

The chapter does not define "transient person", and the phrase does its own work: someone who has no fixed residence, as distinct from someone whose residence is merely unknown to the plaintiff or who has moved away. A defendant with a residence elsewhere in Texas is not transient merely because they are hard to locate.

"May be found" ties venue to presence rather than to any lasting connection, which is what makes the provision workable. It also means venue can exist in more than one county at once, and the plaintiff chooses among them.

A parallel provision applies in justice court, allowing suit in any county and precinct where the transient person is found. The justice court subchapter carries separate rules for a nonresident and for a defendant whose residence is unknown.