By: Oliveira H.B. No. 2727
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to consistency of venue for benefit disputes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter C, Section 413.0311 (d), Labor Code,
is amended to read as follows:
(d) A party who has exhausted all administrative remedies
under Section 413.031 and this section and who is aggrieved by a
final decision of the hearings officer under Subsection (c) may
seek judicial review of the decision. Except as provided by Section
413.0313, judicial [Judicial] review under this subsection shall be
conducted in the manner provided for judicial review of a contested
case under Subchapter G, Chapter 2001, Government Code, except that
the party seeking judicial review under this section must file suit
not later than the 45th day after the date on which the division
mailed the party the decision of the hearings officer. For purposes
of this subsection, the mailing date is considered to be the fifth
day after the date the decision of the hearings officer was filed
with the division.
SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 413, Labor Code, is
amended by adding Section 413.0313 to read as follows:
Sec. 413.0313. JUDICIAL REVIEW OF CERTAIN MEDICAL DISPUTES:
VENUE. (a) The party bringing suit to appeal the decision must
file a petition with the appropriate court:
(1) In the county where the employee resided at the
time of injury or death, if the employee is deceased; or
(2) In the case of an occupational disease, in the
county where the employee resided on the date disability began or
any county agreed to by the parties.
(b) If a suit under this section is filed in a county other
than the county described by Subsection (a), the court, on
determining that it does not have the jurisdiction to render
judgment on the merits of the suit, shall transfer the case to a
proper court in a county described by Subsection (a). Notice of the
transfer of a suit shall be given to the parties. A suit transferred
under this subsection shall be considered for all purposes the same
as if originally filed in the court to which it is transferred.
(c) If a suit is initially filed within the 45-day period in
Section 413.0311(d), and is transferred under Subsection (c), the
suit is considered to be timely filed in the court to which it is
transferred.
SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only
to a suit for judicial review filed on or after the effective date
of this Act. A suit for judicial review filed before the effective
date of this Act is covered by the law as it existed on the date the
suit was filed, and the former law is continued in effect for that
purpose.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect September 1, 2013.