§ 134.001.Short Title

A short title, and the name is the whole of the section: this chapter may be cited as the Texas Theft Liability Act.

The Act does one thing and does it broadly. It converts a list of Penal Code theft offenses into a civil cause of action, so a person whose property was taken need not wait for a prosecution that may never come.

The feature that drives the litigation is the fee award. Under the recovery provision, each person who prevails is awarded court costs and reasonable and necessary attorney’s fees. Not the plaintiff — whoever prevails.

That symmetry makes the Act unusual. Most fee-shifting statutes in Texas run one way, and a defendant who defeats an ordinary conversion claim recovers nothing. Here a defendant who beats a theft claim is entitled to fees, which is a substantial deterrent to pleading the Act carelessly.

It is commonly pleaded alongside conversion, because the facts overlap almost entirely and the Act adds fees that conversion does not carry. The trade is the fee exposure running back.

The chapter is short — five sections — covering the name, the definitions, liability including a parent’s liability for a child, venue, and recovery.

It sits in Title 6 alongside the other statutory civil claims: harmful access by computer, trade secrets, and the racketeering chapters.