§ 7.001.Liability for Refusal or Neglect in Performance of Official Duties

The officer liability provision, and it forces the injured party to choose a remedy.

A clerk, sheriff, or other officer who neglects or refuses to perform a duty required under the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, or under a provision of this code derived from those rules, is liable for actual damages only in a suit by a person injured.

"Actual damages only" excludes exemplary damages, so an officer’s failure — however deliberate — supports compensation and nothing more under this section.

The alternative is contempt. The officer may be punished for contempt of court, with the fine set at not less than $10 or more than $100, with costs, and 10 days’ notice of the motion required.

The fine is a fossil. A ceiling of $100 has no deterrent force today, and the value of the contempt route lies in the finding rather than the money.

Subsection (c) contains the section’s central rule, and it is easy to miss. This section does not create a cause of action for an action that can otherwise be brought under Chapter 34, and a party may seek actual damages under this section or Chapter 34, or may seek contempt sanctions, but may not seek both damages and contempt.

Two limits are packed in there. Where the execution chapter provides a remedy, that chapter governs — this section does not duplicate it. And damages and contempt are alternatives, so a party must elect.

Subsection (d) imports the execution chapter’s procedure, applying its provisions on notice, hearing and limitations to an action under this section — except that a contempt motion need not comply with the notice provision in Section 34.068(b).