This section preserves certain civil remedies and gives the district court power to award litigation costs in some water-right suits.
Sec. 11.0841. CIVIL REMEDY. (a) Nothing in this chapter affects the right of any private corporation, individual, or political subdivision that has a justiciable interest in pursuing any available common-law remedy to enforce a right or to prevent or seek redress or compensation for the violation of a right or otherwise redress an injury. (b) A district court may award the costs of litigation, including reasonable attorney fees and expert costs, to any political subdivision of the state, private corporation, or individual that is a water right holder and that prevails in a suit for injunctive relief to redress an unauthorized diversion, impoundment, or use of surface water in violation of this chapter or a rule adopted pursuant to this chapter. (c) For purposes of this section, the Parks and Wildlife Department has: (1) the rights of a holder of a water right that is held in the Texas Water Trust, including the right to file suit in a civil court to prevent the unlawful use of such a right; (2) the right to act in the same manner that a holder of a water right may act to protect the holder's rights in seeking to prevent any person from appropriating water in violation of a set-aside established by the commission under Section 11.1471 to meet instream flow needs or freshwater inflow needs; and (3) the right to file suit in a civil court to prevent the unlawful use of a set-aside established under Section 11.1471. Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 1010, Sec. 3.02, eff. Sept. 1, 1997. Amended by: Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1351 (H.B. 3), Sec. 1.09, eff. September 1, 2007. Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1430 (S.B. 3), Sec. 1.09, eff. September 1, 2007.