§ 17.021.Service on Certain Noncorporate Business Agents

A service provision for the non-corporate business with a local presence and an absent owner.

Where an action arises in a county in which the individual, partnership, or association has an office, place of business, or agency for transacting business in Texas, citation may be served on an agent or clerk employed there — but only if both conditions are met.

First, the action must grow out of or be connected with the business transacted in this state. A local office does not open the owner to service on unrelated claims. Second, the principal must be not a resident of the county, not a resident of this state, or a resident of the county who has not been found for service.

That third route carries its own proof requirement. To serve under it, the officer making the return of unexecuted process must certify that after diligent search and inquiry the principal cannot be found and served. Service on the agent is a fallback after a genuine attempt, not an alternative to one.

The effect is substantial. Service under the section has the effect of personal service on the principal and subjects the principal's nonexempt property to the court's jurisdiction and judgment.

Two protections follow. A default judgment may not be rendered before the 21st day after service — longer than the ordinary answer date, because the defendant learns of the suit indirectly. And subsection (f) confirms the section does not affect venue: serving an agent in a county does not make that county proper for trial.

Subsection (e) makes the method additional to other service methods rather than exclusive.