HCAD frivolous lawsuit

HCAD mistakenly identified me as the owner of a property and their attorney served me papers with a 20 day deadline to respond in court. They were looking for thousands of dollars of back pay in taxes for several years.
I told the HCAD attorney it was a mistake. They asked me to notify HCAD and suggested I should look for an assistance from an attorney.
I notified HCAD who asked me to fill a correction form and wait 60 to 90 days for an official answer by mail. To this day, four months later, I have never received any correspondence from HCAD.
I consulted with an attorney who handled property cases and asked if I just could sit this one out and do nothing. He said if I did not answer the paper correctly and lose the case I would automatically lose the lawsuit and HCAD attorney's discovery would look for the money owed in any bank account I have. Once they took the money it would be immensely hard to get it back. That attorney told me he could not handle my case.

I eventually found a lawyer who answered the court papers. After 60 days he received a communication that HCAD was dropping the lawsuit. I told the lawyer I would look for refund for his fees from HCAD and he said in 30 years in the business he never saw HCAD refunding anyone for frivolous lawsuits that they started.
But I contacted the tax office anyway and requested a refund for my attorney fees. The tax agent told me that if I knew the lawsuit was frivolous I had no business in hiring an attorney. She also said that the HCAD employee salaries are low, that their office did not have spare money and would not refund the fees.

I have been contemplating in opening a case in the small claims court. Does anyone here had similar experiences with this or have a suggestion?

Thank you.