Opinion ID: 894780
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: The Civil Practice and Remedies Code provides that [a] party may apply for a writ of mandamus with an appellate court to enforce the mandatory venue provisions of [chapter 15 of the Civil Practice and Remedies Code]. TEX. CIV. PRAC. & REM.CODE § 15.0642. [This] language . . . seems to contemplate a review of the merits of the trial court's decision on mandatory venue. In re Mo. Pac. R.R. Co., 998 S.W.2d 212, 216 (Tex.1999). Aggregate has challenged our jurisdiction to hear this case, arguing that the trial court's order denying Applied Chemical's motion to transfer venue (which did not specify a reason for the decision) may not have been based on the merits of the venue statute but rather on the due-order-of-pleading rule. See TEX.R. CIV. P. 86(1) (stating that venue objections are waived if not filed prior to or concurrently with any other pleading). In addition to challenging the applicability of section 15.011, Aggregate argued before the trial court that the amended venue motions (which corrected the errors in the original motion) violated the due-order-of-pleading rule because the amended motions were filed after Applied Chemical's answer. Because the trial court did not specify in its written order whether it was denying the venue motion on its merits or based on the due-order-of-pleading rule, Aggregate contends we cannot be certain that mandamus jurisdiction is proper in this case. We disagree. While it is true that the trial court's order did not specify the grounds upon which it denied Applied Chemical's venue motion, the record of the hearing shows that the court explicitly overruled Aggregate's due-order-of-pleading argument, stating that it's this [c]ourt's holding that the motion to transfer venue can be amended. The [c]ourt will consider same. Accord In re Pepsico, Inc., 87 S.W.3d 787, 794 (Tex.App.-Texarkana 2002, no pet.) (holding that an original timely motion to transfer venue may be amended to cure defects in the original motion if the amended motion is filed before the trial court rules on the original motion, and that the properly-filed amended motion relates back to and supersedes the original motion to transfer venue). In addition, the court conducted a lengthy discussion with counsel on the merits of the venue statute and subsequently explained his ruling from the bench. The record is clear that the trial court's order denying Applied Chemical's motion to transfer venue was a decision on the merits and, accordingly, we have mandamus jurisdiction under the authority of Civil Practice and Remedies Code section 15.0642.