Texas Property Code 301.112 – Administrative Penalties
(a) If the commission determines at a hearing under § 301.111 that a respondent has engaged in or is about to engage in a discriminatory housing practice, the commission may order the appropriate relief, including actual damages, reasonable attorney fees, court costs, and other injunctive or equitable relief.
(b) To vindicate the public’s interest, the commission may assess a civil penalty against the respondent in an amount that does not exceed:
(1) $10,000 if the respondent has been found by order of the commission or a court to have committed a prior discriminatory housing practice; or
(2) except as provided by Subsection (c):
(A) $25,000 if the respondent has been found by order of the commission or a court to have committed one other discriminatory housing practice during the five-year period ending on the date of the filing of the charges; or
(B) $50,000 if the respondent has been found by the commission or a court to have committed two or more discriminatory housing practices during the seven-year period ending on the date of filing of the charge.
Terms Used In Texas Property Code 301.112
- Comptroller: means the state comptroller of public accounts. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
(c) If the acts constituting the discriminatory housing practice that is the object of the charge are committed by the same individual who has previously been found to have committed acts constituting a discriminatory housing practice, the civil penalties in Subsection (b)(2) may be imposed without regard to the period of time within which any other discriminatory housing practice occurred.
(d) At the request of the commission, the attorney general shall sue to recover a civil penalty due under this section. Funds collected under this section shall be paid to the comptroller for deposit in the state treasury to the credit of the fair housing fund.