DTPA Mediation - consequences

QUESTION
If, as the defendant, you compel mediation and you loose, does that
become part of actual damages?


ANSWER
Not sure I follow the question. Here are the possibilities:

A) You go to mediation, and the case settles by agreement. Everything is over, nothing to worry about.

B) Go to mediation and no settlement is reached.

The fact that you went to mediation would not impact the economic damages, but would of course increase the amount of attorneys' fees that the parties have incurred. So, if the Defendant compelled mediation, the case did not settle and at trial the Defendant lost - the additional attorneys' fees incurred by the plaintiff would be part of the plaintiffs request to the court for an award of attorneys' fees.

Also, you should think about how 17.5052 works, and consider what the impact would be of the defendant making a "full value" settlement offer, if the plaintiff turns it down.