Tom Annunziato claimed residence in Parker County when he filed libel and defamation lawsuits against eye doctors in Florida, Georgia, and New York two years ago. He claimed to live in Tarrant County when he filed to run for the Legislature last month.

But he never moved.

And in all of those documents, the same street address is used; only the city and county change.

The Fort Worth optometrist says his lawyer made the mistake in the court filings — an error that had the effect of moving the venue of those cases from Tarrant County, where he lives, to Parker County, where his lawyer lives and practices.

Annunziato's lawyer is Rep. Phil King, R-Weatherford.

In his application for a spot on the GOP ballot in this year's elections, Annunziato signed an application saying he's been a Texas resident for 35 years, a Tarrant County resident for 15 years, and a resident of House District 99 for eight years. 

That's undisputed. Even his opponent in HD-99 — Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth — says Annunziato lives in the district.

Geren said he won't challenge Annunziato's residency on the basis of the court papers. "I wouldn't attempt to challenge that — I know he lives in Tarrant County and I know he lives in Fort Worth," Geren said. "But I'm very disappointed that he would lie to a district court."

In the three lawsuits he filed two years ago against the ophthalmologists, Annunziato's lawyer, King, listed Parker County as his residential address in his pleadings. And in a standard boilerplate, the pleading said "Venue in Parker County is proper in this cause under the mandatory venue provision for libel and slander actions... as the Plaintiff resides in Parker County."

Annunziato said he lives in Fort Worth and in Tarrant County, though he adds that the mail for his neighborhood goes through the post office in Aledo on the other side of the county line. In fact, the Tarrant Appraisal District lists the property as a Fort Worth address, but has an Aledo mailing address for the taxpayer. They don't list it anywhere as a Parker County property. The Parker County Appraisal District lists two unimproved properties owned, in part, by Annunziato, but both are in Weatherford.

Annunziato has a business address in Weatherford, but filed the suit as an individual. Had he listed a Tarrant County address, the case wouldn't have gone to lawyer King's home court in Weatherford, but to one of several courts in Fort Worth instead.

Annunziato was suing the eye doctors for their comments about an advertisement that showed him wearing surgical scrubs. Optometrists don't go to medical school, aren't doctors, and can't operate on people. He says he wasn't suing them for being ophthalmologists taunting an optometrist, but because of the personal nature of the attacks and the phrases they used. "I would have sued these guys if they were auto mechanics," he says.

He sued Dr. Mark Anthony Johnson of Venice, Florida, for $75,000 in November 2005. Johnson started a string of comments on the website with a withering post about Annunziato's garb titled, "were all the cowboy costumes taken?"

Annunziato sued Dr. David Gerstenfeld of Staten Island, New York, for $75,000 for responding to Johnson's comments on a website by writing, "Amen, brother!" And he sued Dr. Richard Schulze Jr. of Savannah, Georgia, for his responses to the post. As with the other two lawsuits, Annunziato sought $75,000 in damages.

All three cases were settled in 2006 and dismissed. King and Annunziato said all three defendants agreed to pay attorney fees and to write letters of apology.

Did it matter where the cases landed? Two of the defense lawyers in the cases — Dan Barrett of Fort Worth and Carlos Balido of Dallas — didn't return calls (and yes, that's the same Dan Barrett elected last month to finish Anna Mowery's term in the Texas House). Stephen Marsh of Richardson, who represented Schulze, contested the jurisdiction of the case, but not the venue, before settling. He didn't think the interstate claim belonged in a Texas court. He didn't know about the venue problem, but when told of it, he said the Weatherford court that took the case was fair.

"In my case, it didn't matter," he said. "The judge was pretty straight."

Geren wasn't as nice about it. "Sounds to me like Phil was trying to get it to his home county," he said. "They both know [Annunziato's home] is in Tarrant County."

King is also Annunziato's business lawyer and in earlier lawsuits noted his client's business addresses in Fort Worth and in Weatherford, and also that he "resides in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas." King initially didn't remember why the case was filed in Parker County, but said a staff lawyer who drafted the cases for him was confused about the Aledo mailing address for Annunziato and other residents of his neighborhood.

"I certainly wanted to keep the business in Parker County," he said. "I prefer to do that because it's a mile to the courthouse instead of 25 miles."

After doing some checking, King said he had the option of filing in either county.

"The suit could have gone to Tarrant County, where Tom actually resides, or in Weatherford, where the harm occurred," he said.

Venue in libel cases has to be set in either the county where the plaintiff resided or the county where the defendant resided. Since none of the defendants lived in Texas, that would be Tarrant County.

But King said the comments that set off the lawsuits were brought to Annunziato's attention by a Weatherford ophthalmologist. "You can file where you live or where the harm occurred," King said.

And, he added, it didn't come up at the time. "There was never an objection," he said.