§ 143.002.Damages

A two-item remedy, and the second is what makes the claim usable.

A person who establishes a cause of action under this chapter is entitled to: actual damages; and reasonable attorney’s fees and costs.

"Is entitled to" makes both mandatory on success. There is no discretion in the fee award, which distinguishes this chapter from the trade secrets chapter next door, where fees require bad faith or wilful misappropriation.

The fee entitlement is the reason these claims are brought. Actual damages from unauthorised computer access are frequently modest and hard to quantify — the value of data taken, the cost of restoring a system, business interrupted for a day. Without fees, proving the claim would cost more than it recovers.

The award runs one way. Unlike the Theft Liability Act, which awards fees to whoever prevails, this section is keyed to the person who establishes the cause of action — so a successful defendant has no entitlement under it.

"Actual damages" is the only compensatory measure named. The chapter provides no statutory minimum, no multiplier, and no exemplary damages provision of its own — though the general damages chapter operates on its own terms where its standards are met.

Nor does the chapter supply injunctive relief, which for ongoing unauthorised access is often what a claimant most wants. That comes from the ordinary equitable jurisdiction rather than from this text.