Bill Text: TX SB1880 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the County Court at Law of Lamar County.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (N/A - Dead) 2013-04-09 - Referred to Jurisprudence [SB1880 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-SB1880-Introduced.html
83R12136 CAE-F | ||
By: Eltife | S.B. No. 1880 |
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relating to the County Court at Law of Lamar County. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Section 25.1412, Government Code, is amended by | ||
amending Subsections (a) and (f) and adding Subsections (l), (m), | ||
(n), (o), and (p) to read as follows: | ||
(a) In addition to the jurisdiction provided by Section | ||
25.0003 and other law, a county court at law in Lamar County has: | ||
(1) concurrent jurisdiction with the district court | ||
in: | ||
(A) probate matters and proceedings, including | ||
will contests; | ||
(B) family law cases and proceedings, including | ||
juvenile cases; [ |
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(C) second and third degree felony cases and | ||
proceedings and state jail felony cases, including jury trials; | ||
(D) matters and proceedings related to motions to | ||
revoke probation and motions to adjudicate guilt in all felony and | ||
misdemeanor cases; | ||
(E) felony cases to conduct arraignments and | ||
pretrial hearings and to accept guilty pleas; and | ||
(F) civil cases in which the amount in | ||
controversy does not exceed $200,000, excluding interest; and | ||
(2) concurrent jurisdiction with the county and | ||
district courts over all suits arising under the Family Code. | ||
(f) The district clerk serves as clerk of a county court at | ||
law in matters of concurrent jurisdiction with the district court, | ||
other than probate matters and proceedings. The [ |
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clerk serves as clerk of the court in all other matters. Each clerk | ||
shall establish a separate docket for a county court at law. | ||
(l) The fees assessed in a case in which a county court at | ||
law has concurrent civil jurisdiction with the district court are | ||
the same as the fees that would be assessed in the district court | ||
for that case. | ||
(m) In matters of concurrent jurisdiction, a judge of the | ||
county court at law and a judge of a district court may transfer | ||
cases between the courts in the same manner judges of district | ||
courts transfer cases under Section 24.003. | ||
(n) The judge of a county court at law and a judge of a | ||
district court may exchange benches and may sit and act for each | ||
other in any matter pending before either court. | ||
(o) The laws governing the drawing, selection, service, and | ||
pay of jurors for county courts apply to a county court at | ||
law. Jurors regularly impaneled for a week by the district court | ||
may, on request of the judge of a county court at law, be made | ||
available and shall serve for the week in a county court at law. | ||
(p) Except as otherwise provided by this subsection, a jury | ||
in a county court at law shall be composed of six members unless the | ||
constitution requires a 12-member jury. Failure to object before a | ||
six-member jury is seated and sworn constitutes a waiver of a | ||
12-member jury. In matters in which the constitution does not | ||
require a 12-member jury and the county court at law has concurrent | ||
jurisdiction with the district court, the jury may be composed of 12 | ||
members if a party to the suit requests a 12-member jury and the | ||
judge of the court consents. In a civil case tried in a county | ||
court at law, the parties may, by mutual agreement and with the | ||
consent of the judge, agree to try the case with any number of | ||
jurors and have a verdict rendered and returned by the vote of any | ||
number of those jurors that is less than the total number of jurors. | ||
SECTION 2. Section 25.1412, Government Code, as amended by | ||
this Act, applies only to an action filed in the county court at law | ||
in Lamar County on or after the effective date of this Act. An | ||
action filed in the county court at law in Lamar County before the | ||
effective date of this Act is governed by the law in effect on the | ||
date the action was filed, and the former law is continued in effect | ||
for that purpose. | ||
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2013. |