RICHMOND, Texas (Covering Katy News) — Fort Bend County Judge Daniel Wong has voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit he filed earlier this week after Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson initiated a quo warranto action challenging his legal authority to hold office.
Under Texas law, a quo warranto action is the legal process used to determine whether a person lawfully holds a public office. If the court determines Wong is not legally entitled to serve, the proceeding could result in his removal from office.
Wong said dismissing his declaratory judgment lawsuit allows both sides to resolve the dispute in a single case rather than litigating similar legal questions in separate courts.
"Rather than litigating the same issues in two separate cases, Judge Wong has chosen to focus on a single forum and allow the court to resolve the matter once and for all," his attorneys said in a news release.
The dismissal comes one day after Wong sued Smith-Lawson in her official capacity, alleging she exceeded her authority by directing county officials to revoke his access to county facilities, disable his access to county computer systems and begin offboarding procedures following the dismissal of the civil removal case against former County Judge KP George.
Instead of continuing that lawsuit, Wong said the newly filed quo warranto proceeding now places the central legal issue before the court.
"The legal question concerning Judge Wong's authority to serve is central to the County Attorney's quo warranto action," the release states.
Wong sharply criticized Smith-Lawson's handling of the dispute, accusing her of taking actions beyond the authority of her office and characterizing the new lawsuit as an effort to remove him from office.
"I never wanted litigation, but the Democrats are disrupting county business and left me with no choice," Wong said. "Now these issues will be resolved where they should be — in a courtroom — and not in competing legal opinions or political debate."
His attorney, Chris Hilton of Stone Hilton PLLC, said the legal team believes the County Attorney's lawsuit lacks merit and expressed confidence Wong will ultimately prevail.
Smith-Lawson has taken the opposite position, arguing the quo warranto proceeding is the proper legal mechanism under Texas law to determine whether Wong has any lawful authority to serve as county judge. In her filing, she asks the court to determine that Wong has no legal right to occupy the office.
The latest filing further consolidates the legal battle over who lawfully serves as Fort Bend County Judge into a single proceeding that will now determine the question of Wong's authority to hold office.
Read our original story on this case here.
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