§ 15.098.Pleading Requirements

The enforcement provision for the whole subchapter, and the reason its exceptions cannot be used quietly.

If a suit is brought in a county or precinct in which the defendant does not reside, the citation or pleading must affirmatively show that the suit comes within an exception provided for by this subchapter.

The burden is placed at the front, on the plaintiff, in writing. Everywhere else in the chapter a venue objection is raised by the defendant after suit is filed. Here the plaintiff must state the basis before anyone objects.

The reason is the forum. Justice court defendants are usually individuals without lawyers, facing a short answer deadline, and many would never recognise a venue defect at all. Requiring the plaintiff to plead the exception puts the question in front of them.

"Affirmatively show" means naming the ground, not gesturing at it. A petition that omits the defendant's residence and says no more has not satisfied the section.

Note that it reaches the citation as well as the pleading, so the document served on the defendant carries the information.

The provision matters most alongside the exceptions that depend on facts only the plaintiff knows — that a defendant is transient, or a nonresident, or of unknown residence. Those are the easiest to assert and the hardest for a defendant to check, and this section forces them onto the record where they can be contested.