Five years after the Texas Supreme Court ruled that dog owners cannot recover emotion-based damages over the loss of their pets, another state appellate court has determined that such plaintiffs also can’t recover attorney fees.

In Palfreyman v. Gaconnet, Houston’s Fourteenth Court of Appeals focused on § 38.001 (6) of the Texas Civil Practices & Remedies Code, an obscure law that allows people to recover attorney fees if their claim concerns “killed or injured stock.”