In re City National Bank et al (Published): Venue case out of Rusk County. Wyatt Norman has a car business on some land in Gregg County. He got behind on his note, which was secured by the land. The bank sent out notice that foreclosure was imminent. Norman raced to the Rusk County courthouse to stop the foreclosure, suing City National Bank, a loan officer, and the loan officer’s assistant. The bank and its personnel bring a mandamus action to get venue transferred to Gregg County pursuant to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code Section 15.011 (mandatory venue in county where land is located in suits over land).
Norman’s basis for venue in Rusk County is that the assistant to the bank’s lending officer resides in Rusk County. Norman makes a litany of allegations against the bank, the loan officer and the assistant. Norman asserts that all of these allegations transform the fundamental nature of the suit. In his view, it is no longer a suit about land.
The Tyler court disagrees. In the words of the Tyler court, the application of the mandatory venue statute is determined by “the ultimate or dominant purpose of a suit …not [by] how the cause of action is described by the parties.” The whole purpose of Norman’s allegations is to keep the bank from foreclosing on the land in Gregg County. It’s about the land. The suit belongs in Gregg County.Continue Reading…
