§ 81.004.Damages

A short damages provision, and its first clause is the significant one.

A prevailing plaintiff may recover actual damages, including damages for mental anguish even if an injury other than mental anguish is not shown. In addition, a prevailing plaintiff may recover exemplary damages and reasonable attorney fees.

The mental anguish provision removes a real obstacle. Texas ordinarily requires mental anguish damages to accompany some other compensable injury, or to meet demanding standards of proof on their own. The harm from this conduct is characteristically psychological and may leave no physical trace at all.

Without the provision, a patient whose therapy was turned against them could prove the conduct and recover nothing.

Exemplary damages and fees are permissive — the section says may, so both remain within the fact-finder's and the court's judgment, and exemplary damages are subject to the standards and caps in the damages chapter.

The fee provision matters practically. These cases require expert testimony about the therapeutic relationship and often about the plaintiff's psychological condition, and the damages may be entirely non-economic. A fee award is frequently what makes the claim viable to bring.