Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

If a lawsuit is issued and specifically states that it has jurisdiction over a defendant because he resides in Texas but the defendant does not live, nor has lived in that state for over two years and had moved to another state at least one full year before the lawsuit was even filed, does he have to even respond to the lawsuit?


Asked on 8/03/13, 8:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

I hesitate to tell you to ignore a lawsuit that has been properly served because if you fail to answer and the court has jurisdiction then the plaintiff will be entitled to a default judgment. The plaintiff could still obtain a default judgment and pursue collection actions and you would have to make a collateral attack on the judgment as lacking jurisdiction. The best answer would be to discuss the petition with a Texas lawyer who can review the petition and determine whether filing a special appearance to challenge jurisdiction would be a superior course of action than ignoring the suit.

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Answered on 8/04/13, 1:39 pm


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