CIVIL PRACTICE AND REMEDIES CODE

TITLE 2. TRIAL, JUDGMENT, AND APPEAL

SUBTITLE B. TRIAL MATTERS

CHAPTER 17. PARTIES;  CITATION;  LONG-ARM JURISDICTION

SUBCHAPTER A. PARTIES TO SUIT

Sec. 17.001.  SUIT ON CONTRACT WITH SEVERAL OBLIGORS OR PARTIES CONDITIONALLY LIABLE.  (a)  Except as provided by this section, the acceptor of a bill of exchange or a principal obligor on a contract may be sued alone or jointly with another liable party, but a judgment may not be rendered against a party not primarily liable unless judgment is also rendered against the principal obligor.
(b)  The assignor, endorser, guarantor, or surety on a contract or the drawer of an accepted bill may be sued without suing the maker, acceptor, or other principal obligor, or a suit against the principal obligor may be discontinued, if the principal obligor:
(1)  is a nonresident or resides in a place where he cannot be reached by the ordinary process of law;
(2)  resides in a place that is unknown and cannot be ascertained by the use of reasonable diligence;
(3)  is dead;  or
(4)  is actually or notoriously insolvent.
Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 959, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1985.