§ 15.064.Hearings

Two subsections that pull in opposite directions, and together they define how venue is litigated in Texas.

Subsection (a) keeps the hearing narrow. No factual proof concerning the merits is required to establish venue. The court decides from the pleadings and affidavits. And no interlocutory appeal lies from the determination.

So a venue hearing is not a mini-trial, and a party who loses one cannot go up immediately — they must try the case first.

Subsection (b) is the compensation, and it is severe. On appeal from the trial on the merits, if venue was improper it shall in no event be harmless error and shall be reversible error. The appellate court considers the entire record, including the trial on the merits.

Texas is unusual in this. In most systems a venue error that made no difference to the outcome is harmless. Here it is reversible per se — a full trial, correctly conducted, is undone because it happened in the wrong county.

The combination explains why venue is fought so hard at the outset. There is no immediate appeal, but there is a guaranteed reversal at the end, so a defendant with a genuine venue objection has every reason to preserve it and no reason to compromise.