United Services Automobile Ass'n v. Brite

County courts at law are courts of limited jurisdiction and many, including the county court at law in this case, lack jurisdiction over a “matter in controversy” that exceeds $100,000. 1 See Tex. Gov’t Code § 25.0003(c)(1); see also id. § 25.0172 (Bexar County Court at Law Provisions). The question here is whether the value of this case at filing (commonly referred to as the amount in controversy) exceeded the court’s $100,000 jurisdictional limit. To answer that question, we must decide whether the amount in controversy includes the total amount of the damages the plaintiff seeks to…