§ 17.022.Service on Partnership

One sentence with a carefully limited reach.

Citation served on one member of a partnership authorises a judgment against the partnership and "the partner actually served".

The limit is in the last three words. The judgment reaches the entity and the individual who was served. It does not reach the other partners personally, however many there are and however liable they might be on the underlying obligation.

That is a due process line, not an accident of drafting. A partner who was never served has had no notice and no opportunity to defend, and a judgment against them individually would be worthless anyway.

The practical consequence is about collection. A judgment against the partnership reaches partnership assets. A creditor who wants to reach the personal assets of a particular partner must have served that partner.

So the section is a convenience for suing, not a shortcut for enforcing. A plaintiff facing a partnership with limited assets and several solvent partners should serve each partner they intend to collect from, rather than relying on this provision.

Note that it addresses service, not liability. Whether a partner is liable for a partnership obligation at all is answered by the Business Organizations Code, and differs sharply between a general partnership, a limited partnership, and a limited liability partnership.

The neighbouring provisions do the same job for other unincorporated forms — noncorporate business agents and joint-stock associations — and the long-arm subchapter covers service on a person in charge of a nonresident’s Texas business.