§ 42.001.Definitions

Six definitions, and the fifth is where the money is.

Litigation costs are "money actually spent and obligations actually incurred that are directly related to the action in which a settlement offer is made".

Two limits sit in that opening. The money must have been spent or become owing rather than estimated, and it must be directly related to this action.

Four categories follow, and the list is closed. Court costs; reasonable deposition costs; reasonable fees for not more than two testifying expert witnesses; and reasonable attorney’s fees.

The two-expert cap is the notable restriction. A case may involve five testifying experts, and only two of them can be recovered for — which keeps the chapter from becoming a full cost-shifting regime in expert-heavy litigation.

Note what is absent: consulting experts, travel, exhibits, and the general expense of preparing a case. Those are not litigation costs here however substantial.

"Claim" means a request, including a counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, to recover monetary damages, and "claimant" and "defendant" follow the positions rather than the caption.

So a defendant with a counterclaim is a claimant as to that claim, and the chapter operates on each claim rather than on the lawsuit as a whole.

"Governmental unit" means the state, a unit of state government, or a political subdivision — defined here because the chapter excludes actions by or against one.

"Settlement offer" means an offer made in compliance with Section 42.003, which is what separates an offer with cost consequences from an ordinary negotiation.