Most civil lawsuits in Texas are built on one of a handful of recognized causes of action in Texas law: breach of contract, negligence, fraud, violations of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, breach of fiduciary duty, and interference with property through trespass or nuisance. Each is a distinct legal theory with its own elements the plaintiff has to prove, its own filing deadline, and its own rules about what a court can award. Picking the right theory — and pleading it correctly — is the first real decision in any Texas civil case.
Breach of Contract
A breach of contract claim has four elements: a valid, enforceable agreement existed; the plaintiff performed or had a legitimate excuse for not performing; the defendant failed to perform a material obligation; and that failure caused the plaintiff actual financial harm.1GovInfo. Findings, Conclusions, and Recommendation of the United States Magistrate Judge A valid agreement needs an offer, a matching acceptance, mutual understanding of the essential terms, and consideration on both sides.
Both written and oral contracts count in Texas. Some agreements, though, must be in writing to be enforceable under the statute of frauds: sales of real estate, leases longer than one year, agreements that cannot be performed within a year, promises to guarantee someone else’s debt, and agreements involving oil and gas commissions or mineral interests.2State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code 26.01 – Promise or Agreement Must Be in Writing An oral deal that falls into one of those categories is essentially unenforceable, even if both sides admit it happened. Oral agreements outside those categories are valid but harder to prove without emails, texts, or witnesses.
Damages use the “benefit of the bargain” measure, which aims to put the plaintiff in the position they would have been in if the contract had been performed. That could be the cost of a replacement contractor, lost profit on a failed delivery, or the price gap between what was promised and what arrived. When money alone cannot fix the problem — usually because the subject is unique, like a specific piece of land — a court may order specific performance, forcing the breaching party to carry out the exact terms.
Negligence
Negligence is the failure to use ordinary care. A plaintiff has to prove four elements: the defendant owed a duty, the defendant breached that duty, the breach was the proximate cause of the injury, and the plaintiff suffered actual damages.3Texas Bar Practice. PJC 2.1 Negligence and Ordinary Care
Duty comes from the relationship between the parties. Drivers owe other motorists and pedestrians the duty to follow traffic laws and pay attention. Store owners owe customers the duty to keep the premises reasonably safe. A breach happens when someone’s conduct falls below what a reasonable person would do given the known risks — leaving a puddle in a grocery aisle for hours, or running a red light while looking at a phone.
Proximate cause has two parts. Cause in fact means the injury would not have happened “but for” the defendant’s act, and that act was a substantial factor in the harm. Foreseeability means a person of ordinary intelligence should have anticipated the danger.4Supreme Court of Texas. Supreme Court of Texas Opinion – Proximate Cause Both parts have to be proven. A freak chain of events nobody could have predicted usually breaks the foreseeability link even when the defendant was clearly careless.
Damages cover medical bills, lost income, physical pain and suffering, and lasting impairment. Documentation drives the number: hospital records, therapy bills, pay stubs, and expert testimony about future medical needs.
Proportionate Responsibility
Texas uses modified comparative fault. If the plaintiff shares blame, their recovery drops by their percentage of fault. A plaintiff who is 20 percent at fault for a $100,000 loss recovers $80,000. The critical threshold is 51 percent: a plaintiff who bears more than half the responsibility recovers nothing.5State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 33.001 – Proportionate Responsibility Many negligence cases turn on this. Defense counsel push hard to shift fault to the plaintiff, so documenting your own careful behavior matters as much as proving the defendant’s carelessness.
Fraud and Misrepresentation
Common law fraud has five elements: the defendant made a statement about something important, the statement was false, the defendant knew it was false or made it recklessly without caring whether it was true, the defendant intended the plaintiff to rely on it, and the plaintiff did rely on it and suffered harm. A seller who claims a roof was replaced two years ago when they know it is twenty years old has hit every one of those elements.
The knowledge requirement is what separates fraud from negligence. The defendant must have known the statement was untrue or asserted it with confidence while having no idea whether it was accurate. Honest mistakes, even expensive ones, are not fraud. Reckless indifference counts, though: a real estate agent who invents an inspection result without reading the report has acted recklessly enough for a fraud claim.
Reliance must also be justifiable. If the truth was available through basic investigation and the plaintiff chose not to look, a court may find the reliance unreasonable. When the defendant holds specialized knowledge or actively prevents investigation, courts are more sympathetic.
Fraud damages are measured two ways in Texas. The out-of-pocket rule compares what the plaintiff paid to the actual value of what they received. The benefit-of-the-bargain measure compares what they were promised to what they got. Exemplary (punitive) damages may also be available when the conduct was especially egregious.
Constructive Fraud
Constructive fraud drops the intent requirement but adds another: a fiduciary or confidential relationship between the parties. The defendant does not need to have known the statement was false. The plaintiff has to show the defendant breached a duty of trust through a material misrepresentation or a failure to disclose important information, and that the plaintiff relied on that breach to their detriment. This claim shows up most often between business partners, trustees and beneficiaries, or others where one party is supposed to look out for the other.
Deceptive Trade Practices Act Claims
The Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, in Chapter 17 of the Business and Commerce Code, is a statutory tool aimed at dishonest business conduct. To qualify as a “consumer” under the act, a person or entity must have sought or acquired goods or services through a purchase or lease. Business consumers with assets of $25 million or more, or those controlled by an entity that size, are excluded.6State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code 17.45 – Definitions
The statute lists dozens of specific prohibited acts, including advertising goods with no intent to sell them as advertised, misrepresenting refurbished goods as new, and failing to disclose information to induce a transaction the consumer would otherwise avoid. The consumer does not need to prove the business intended to deceive, only that a false, misleading, or deceptive act was a “producing cause” of the damages. Producing cause is easier to meet than the proximate cause required in negligence: the consumer shows the deceptive act was a substantial factor in the injury, without proving foreseeability.7State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 17 – Deceptive Trade Practices, Section 17.50
Pre-Suit Notice
Before filing a DTPA lawsuit, the consumer must send the business written notice at least 60 days in advance. The notice has to describe the complaint in reasonable detail and state the economic damages, mental anguish damages, and attorney fees the consumer has incurred.8State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 17 – Deceptive Trade Practices, Section 17.505 Skipping this step can get the case dismissed before the merits are ever heard. The 60-day window also gives the business a chance to inspect and potentially settle, which is the point of the requirement.
DTPA Remedies
A consumer who wins a DTPA claim recovers economic damages plus court costs and reasonable attorney fees. The recovery scales up based on the defendant’s mental state. If the business acted knowingly, a court may award up to three times the economic damages, and mental anguish damages become available on top of that. If the conduct was intentional, the multiplier applies to the combined total of economic and mental anguish damages, so a court can award up to three times the sum.7State of Texas. Texas Business and Commerce Code Chapter 17 – Deceptive Trade Practices, Section 17.50 That multiplier is what makes the DTPA powerful. The flip side: if a court finds the lawsuit was groundless or brought in bad faith, the business can recover its own attorney fees from the consumer.
Breach of Fiduciary Duty
A fiduciary relationship exists where someone in a position of trust has a legal obligation to put the other party’s interests ahead of their own. Texas recognizes formal fiduciary relationships from roles like corporate directors, officers, trustees, attorneys, and agents. The fiduciary has to exercise good faith and fair dealing, disclose material information, and avoid self-dealing or conflicts of interest.
The claim has four elements: a fiduciary relationship existed, the fiduciary breached the duty, the breach caused harm, and the plaintiff suffered damages. A trustee who moves trust assets into a personal investment account, or an attorney who represents both sides of a transaction without disclosure, has breached the duty. Proving the relationship is the first hurdle, and it is straightforward for formal roles. Texas courts also recognize informal fiduciary relationships based on moral, social, or personal bonds of trust, but those need a heavier factual showing.
Remedies go beyond ordinary compensatory damages. A court can order the fiduciary to forfeit all fees or compensation received during the disloyalty, return profits earned through the breach, and pay damages for the plaintiff’s losses. The four-year limitations period can also be extended under the discovery rule, since the nature of the relationship may keep the injured party from learning about the misconduct until later.9State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.004 – Four-Year Limitations Period
Trespass and Nuisance
Texas protects property rights through two separate causes of action that cover different kinds of interference. Trespass addresses physical invasions of your land. Private nuisance addresses conduct that disrupts your ability to use and enjoy it.
Trespass to Real Property
Trespass requires three things: someone entered your property, the entry was without your consent or legal authorization, and the entry was physical. The plaintiff does not need to prove damage. The unauthorized entry itself is the legal wrong, and Texas courts can award nominal damages even when no tangible harm occurred. When there is actual damage, remedies include repair costs, diminished market value, and loss of use during the affected period.
Private Nuisance
A private nuisance claim does not require anyone to physically enter your land. It targets conditions that substantially interfere with the use and enjoyment of the property: persistent loud noise, construction vibrations, chemical odors, or flooding caused by a neighbor’s drainage changes. The interference must be unreasonable and bothersome to a person of ordinary sensibilities, not just someone unusually sensitive. Remedies can include an injunction stopping the offending activity, monetary damages for lost property value, or both.
Filing Deadlines
Every Texas cause of action has a statute of limitations, and missing it usually ends the claim no matter how strong the evidence. The clock generally starts on the date of the wrongful act, not the date the plaintiff files suit or hires a lawyer.
- Two years: personal injury, trespass, property damage, wrongful death, and conversion of personal property.10State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.003 – Two-Year Limitations Period
- Four years: breach of contract (debt), fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and specific performance of a real estate contract.9State of Texas. Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code 16.004 – Four-Year Limitations Period
- Two years: DTPA claims, measured from the date of the deceptive act or the date the consumer discovered or should have discovered it.
The Discovery Rule
Texas recognizes a narrow discovery rule that delays the start of the limitations clock when the plaintiff could not reasonably have known about the injury or the wrongful act. The rule applies only in limited categories, and the Texas Supreme Court has repeatedly said it should be used sparingly. A plaintiff who ignored obvious warning signs or failed to investigate when the facts called for it cannot take advantage of it. The rule comes up most often in fraud and fiduciary duty cases, where the defendant’s concealment is the reason the plaintiff did not discover the harm sooner.
Early Dismissal Under Rule 91a
Rule 91a of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure lets a defendant move for early dismissal of a cause of action that has no basis in law or no basis in fact. A cause of action has no basis in law when the alleged facts, even if entirely true, do not entitle the plaintiff to any legal remedy. It has no basis in fact when no reasonable person could believe the facts as stated. The defendant has to file the motion within 60 days of receiving the first pleading that contains the challenged claim, and the court has to rule within 45 days.11Supreme Court of Texas. Texas Rules of Civil Procedure – Section 4, Rule 91a A Rule 91a dismissal also carries an attorney fee award to the other side. Choosing and pleading the right cause of action before filing is not just strategy but a financial decision.