§ 98B.003.Damages

A damages provision in the same mandatory form as the trafficking and compelled prostitution chapters.

A prevailing claimant shall be awarded: actual damages, including damages for mental anguish; court costs; and reasonable attorney's fees. In addition, a claimant may recover exemplary damages.

Note the small difference in wording. The trafficking and compelled prostitution chapters say mental anguish is recoverable even if an injury other than mental anguish is not shown. This chapter includes mental anguish in actual damages without the qualifier.

The effect is much the same in practice, since the harm from this conduct is almost always psychological and reputational, but the express clause in the other chapters is the more explicit removal of the ordinary Texas requirement.

The mandatory fee award matters as much here as elsewhere in this group. Actual damages may be difficult to quantify — the harm is to reputation, employment prospects, and psychological wellbeing — and without a fee recovery the claim would rarely justify its cost.

The injunctive relief section supplies a separate and more predictable remedy, with fixed per-violation amounts for breaching a court order, which for many claimants matters more than damages: the object is removing the material, not being paid for it.