Chapter 22-6 Derivative Venue Options

• Jurisdiction: United States

22-6 Derivative Venue Options

Derivative venue allows multiple claims and parties to go forward in a single case in order to avoid a multiplicity of suits by allowing the venue of one claim against one party to derivatively fix venue for other properly joined claims and parties.

The most basic rule of derivative venue comes from case law rather than statute, and has been referenced by many cases⁶⁵ as the Middlebrook doctrine due to its 1894 application by the Texas Supreme Court in Middlebrook v. David Bradley Manufacturing. Co.⁶⁶ 'This rule is that a plaintiff who in good faith asserts joinable claims against the same defendant can maintain venue upon all those claims in a county where venue is proper as to one claim."⁶⁷

Statutory derivative venue provisions build on this basic rule (allowing a single venue for joinder of multiple claims against one defendant) by providing venue rules for joinder of multiple defendants and third-party defendants, joinder of multiple claims between parties, and (to a limited extent) joinder of multiple plaintiffs.

The key statutory derivative venue provisions to understand for pleading purposes are:

• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.004: Derivative Mandatory Venue for Multiple Claims. This statute builds on the Middlebrook doctrine by explicitly stating that mandatory venue for one claim will establish venue for all other claims of the plaintiff properly joined and arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences.
• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.005: Derivative Venue for Multiple Defendants. This statute expands derivative venue by extending venue as to one defendant to all additional defendants for claims of the plaintiff arising out of the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences.
• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.0641: Venue Rights of Multiple Defendants. This statute limits the potential reach of Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.005 by preventing one defendant's waiver of venue rights from derivatively establishing venue against other defendants.
• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.062: Derivative Venue for Counterclaims, Crossclaims, and Third-Party Claims. This statute extends derivative venue over properly joined counterclaims, crossclaims, and third-party claims.
• Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Section 15.003: Limited Derivative Venue for Multiple

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