Chapter 11-10 Statutory Damages Specific to the Cause of Action

• Jurisdiction: United States

11-10 Statutory Damages Specific to the Cause of Action

For some causes of action, applicable damages are specified by statute. these often provide potential damages that would otherwise be unavailable and are intended to discourage particular conduct. Leading examples include:

Damages for deceptive trade practices, which include the amount of economic damages found by the trier of fact (often by means of one of the damage models discussed in the preceding sections above), plus mental anguish damages and potential trebling of economic damages for conduct of the defendant committed knowingly,²¹³ plus potential trebling of mental anguish damages for conduct of the defendant committed intentionally, plus court costs and reasonable and necessary attorney's fees.²¹⁴
Damages for violation of texas usury law including triple the amount of excess interest or the lesser of 20 percent of the principal or $2000,²¹⁵ or totaling the entire amount of principal and interest if the rate charged and received was more than twice the amount allowed by law.²¹⁶
Damages for violation of the texas Debt Collection Act, including actual damages and injunctive relief, plus attorney's fees and costs.²¹⁷
Damages for violation of the prompt payment requirements in the texas Insurance Code including, in addition to the amount of the claim, interest on the amount of the claim at the rate of 18 percent a year as damages, together with reasonable attorney's fees.²¹⁸
Employment law damages or damages specific to other causes of action covered in this book.

A statutory remedy can also restrict the recovery of damages. For example, when a covenant not to compete is part of an otherwise enforceable agreement but contains unreasonable restraints, "the court may not award the promisee damages for a breach of the covenant before its reformation and the relief granted to the promisee shall be limited to injunctive relief."²¹⁹

--------

Notes:

^[213] Note, however, the split among texas courts as to whether the DTPA authorizes up to three or up to four times actual damages total for knowing violations of the DTPA. Compare Bossier Chrysler-Dodge II, Inc. v. Riley, 221 S.W.3d 749, 752 (tex. App.—Waco 2007, pet. denied) (interpreting the DTPA to allow actual damages plus trebling of three times actual damages), with Reyelts v. Cross, 968 F. Supp. 2d 835, 845 n.3 (N.D. tex. 2013) (discussing the split among texas courts but interpreting the DtPA to allow actual damages plus trebling of two times actual...