Austin Trial lawyer

When the petition does not affirmatively demonstrate the absence of jurisdiction, the petition should be liberally construed in favor of jurisdiction.  Moreover, if the original petition is within the jurisdictional limits, but an amendment increases the amount in controversy above the court's jurisdictional limits, the court continues to have jurisdiction if the additional amount accrued because of the passage of time. 

Pursuant to statute, the justice court has original jurisdiction of civil matters in which exclusive jurisdiction is not in the district or county court and in which the amount in controversy is not more than $10,000 exclusive of interest. When a case originally filed in justice court is appealed to the county court, the county court's appellate jurisdiction is restricted to the jurisdictional limits of the justice court, because a county court has no jurisdiction over the appeal unless the justice court had jurisdiction. 

Elkins v. Immanivong, (Tex. App. - Dallas, 2013)