§ 15.082.Venue: General Rule

The default rule for the whole subchapter, and it is narrower than its district court counterpart.

Except as otherwise provided by this subchapter or by any other law, a suit in justice court shall be brought in the county and precinct in which one or more defendants reside.

Note what is missing. The general venue rule for district and county courts offers the county where the events occurred as a first option. This section does not — residence is the default, and the county of the events is available only through a specific permissive provision such as the one for torts.

That inverts the usual starting point. In justice court the defendant's home precinct is where a suit belongs unless something in the subchapter says otherwise.

"One or more defendants" answers the multi-defendant case cleanly. Any one defendant's precinct will do, and the plaintiff chooses among them.

The opening exception is broad — "or by any other law" reaches beyond this subchapter, so a venue provision elsewhere in Texas law displaces the default.

The many permissive sections that follow — torts, rents, personal property, corporations, carriers, insurers — add precincts to this one rather than replacing it, and the option provision confirms as much by letting a plaintiff relying on any of them sue in the defendant's county of residence instead.