Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §§ 85.001, 85.002, 85.003, 85.004, 85.005; § 16.003(a)
Civil stalking in Texas — chapter 85, and the police report the statute requires
A claim in Texas district and county courts · Last verified August 26, 2026
Texas created a civil claim for stalking in 1995, and then set the proof requirements high enough that the claim is rarely used. Most victims go to family court for a protective order instead, which is why chapter 85 has produced so little appellate law in thirty years.
The claim still matters, because a protective order stops the conduct and pays nothing. Chapter 85 is the route to damages.
What the claim is
Someone harassed you repeatedly, you reasonably feared for your safety or your family's, and either they violated a restraining order or they threatened you and you reported it.
Where the right comes from
CPRC chapter 85. Section 85.002 states the liability in one line: "A defendant is liable, as provided by this chapter, to a claimant for damages arising from stalking of the claimant by the defendant."
What a plaintiff has to prove
Section 85.003(a) sets out the proof, and it has two routes through the third element.
- On more than one occasion the defendant engaged in harassing behaviour;
- As a result, the claimant reasonably feared for their own safety or that of a family member; and
- Either the defendant violated a restraining order prohibiting harassing behaviour, or all six of the following: - the defendant, while engaged in harassing behaviour, threatened by acts or words to inflict bodily injury on the claimant or to commit an offence against the claimant, a family member, or the claimant's property; - the defendant had the apparent ability to carry out the threat; - that apparent ability caused the claimant to reasonably fear for their own or a family member's safety; - the claimant at least once clearly demanded that the defendant stop; - after the demand, the defendant continued; and - the harassing behaviour has been reported to the police as a stalking offence.
"Harassing behaviour" is defined in § 85.001(4) as conduct directed specifically toward the claimant, including following the claimant, that is reasonably likely to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment or embarrass them.
The corroboration requirement
Section 85.003(b): "The claimant must, as part of the proof of the behavior described by Subsection (a)(1), submit evidence other than evidence based on the claimant's own perceptions and beliefs."
Note what it attaches to — the harassing behaviour, element (a)(1). The claimant's own testimony establishes the fear; something else has to establish the conduct.
In practice that means the record built while it is happening: messages, call logs, voicemails, security footage, a neighbour who saw the car, a colleague who took the calls, the police reports themselves. A victim who deleted everything to stop looking at it has a proof problem that no amount of testimony solves.
The demand and the report
Where there is no restraining order, the second route requires two acts by the claimant, in order.
A clear demand to stop, made at least once, and continued harassment afterwards. The demand matters because it converts unwelcome conduct into knowing defiance.
A report to the police as a stalking offence. Not a report of a disturbance, a welfare check or a neighbour dispute — the statute names the offence. A victim who never involved law enforcement can satisfy § 85.003(a)(3) only through the restraining-order route.
How long you have to file
Two years under CPRC § 16.003(a), as a personal injury claim. Chapter 85 sets no period of its own.
Stalking is a course of conduct rather than an event, and the period runs from the harassing acts that make up the claim. A plaintiff should plead the pattern and sue on the conduct within the window.
What has to happen before you file
The demand and the police report, on the second route — those are elements, and they have to exist before the suit does.
A protective order under Family Code chapter 7B or a restraining order in a pending case is the alternative route, and it also stops the conduct while the damages claim proceeds.
What the claim pays
Section 85.004: "A claimant who prevails in a suit under this chapter may recover actual damages and, subject to Chapter 41, exemplary damages."
Actual damages — mental anguish, medical and counselling expenses, lost earnings, the cost of moving, changing a phone number, installing security.
Exemplary damages, subject to CPRC chapter 41: clear and convincing proof of malice under § 41.003, and the cap in § 41.008.
The cap applies here. Section 41.008(c) lifts it for a list of felonies committed knowingly or intentionally — murder, aggravated assault, sexual assault, trafficking and the rest — and stalking is not on that list. Where the same conduct amounts to aggravated assault or trafficking, the uncapped route opens through that offence rather than through chapter 85.
No attorney's fees. Chapter 85 has no fee provision, and this is the claim's greatest practical weakness: a victim with modest damages may spend more litigating than the case returns.
Who can be sued
The stalker. Chapter 85 reaches the individual who engaged in the behaviour.
Anyone else, under other law. Section 85.006 makes the cause of action "cumulative of any other remedy provided by common law or statute," and stalking facts routinely support assault for the threats, intrusion on seclusion for the surveillance, harmful access by computer for getting into accounts — which pays attorney's fees where chapter 85 does not — and IIED where nothing else fits.
The defence
Section 85.005: "It is a defense to an action brought under this chapter that the defendant was engaged in conduct that consisted of activity in support of constitutionally or statutorily protected rights."
This is the answer to a chapter 85 suit aimed at a picket line, a journalist, a process server or a protest. It is narrow — protected activity, not merely lawful activity — but where the conduct is speech or petitioning, expect a TCPA motion as well, with mandatory fees if it succeeds.
Common defenses
- Constitutionally or statutorily protected activity, under § 85.005.
- No corroborating evidence of the harassing behaviour, under § 85.003(b).
- No clear demand to stop, or no continuation after it.
- No police report of a stalking offence, where there is no restraining order.
- The fear was not reasonable.
- A single occasion, where the statute requires more than one.
- Limitations.
- The TCPA.
What people get wrong
Your own testimony is not enough. Section 85.003(b) requires evidence beyond the claimant's perceptions to prove the conduct.
A police report is generally required. Absent a violated restraining order, the reporting requirement in § 85.003(a)(3)(F) is an element.
Fees are not recoverable. Chapter 85 provides none, and a companion claim that does — harmful access by computer, for instance — is often the reason a stalking case is economically viable.
A protective order is not the same as this claim. It stops conduct. It does not pay damages, and a violated protective order is one of the two routes into chapter 85.
Annoying is not stalking. Unwanted messages and unwelcome gifts satisfy the harassing-behaviour element, and none of the rest.
Where it came from
Texas criminalised stalking in 1993 and added the civil claim two years later, in a period when legislatures across the country were building remedies for a course of conduct the law had previously handled one incident at a time.
The civil claim was drafted defensively. Its elements are keyed to objective markers — a violated court order, a demand to stop, a police report — rather than to the victim's account, and § 85.003(b) bars a case built on testimony alone. The reason was a concern that a claim defined by harassment could be turned into a weapon in a divorce or a neighbour dispute.
The cost of that caution is that the claim is little used. Victims who need the conduct to stop go to family court; victims who want damages usually reach for the ordinary torts, which have no corroboration requirement and, in the case of the computer statutes, pay for the lawyer. Chapter 85 remains the only Texas statute that names the injury for what it is, and its elements are a record of the compromise that got it passed.
Common questions
How long do I have to sue for stalking in Texas?
Two years, under the general personal injury period. Chapter 85 sets no deadline of its own.
Do I need a police report?
Yes, unless the defendant violated a restraining order prohibiting harassing behaviour. The reporting requirement is one of the six sub-elements in the alternative route.
Is my own testimony enough?
No. Section 85.003(b) requires evidence other than your own perceptions and beliefs to prove the harassing behaviour.
Can I recover attorney's fees?
No. Chapter 85 has no fee provision.
Can I recover punitive damages?
Yes, subject to the chapter 41 cap. Stalking is not one of the felonies that lifts the cap under § 41.008(c).
Can I sue for stalking and something else at the same time?
Yes. Section 85.006 makes the claim cumulative of any other remedy, and assault, invasion of privacy, harmful access by computer and IIED are all commonly pleaded alongside it.