The attorney appointed to represent the state in a lawsuit challenging the controversial and abrupt appointment of a Lubbock County commissioner last year said he intends to dismiss the case once it returns to the trial court level.
Potter County Scott Brumley, who was appointed by the Texas Attorney General's office to represent the state, said once Mark Meurer files his motion to dismiss his appeal he plans to file to dismiss the underlying lawsuit in the 237th District Court.
"The net effect will be that Mr. Corley will continue in office until the end of his term on December 31st," Brumley said in an e-mail.
As of Wednesday, a dismissal has not been filed on the appeal, according to a review of court records.
Fallout from Lubbock County Precinct 2 commissioner removal, appointment
The suit was initially filed by
the elected Precinct 2 commissioner Jason Corley on Dec. 8, the day Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish appointed Meurer to serve out the remainder of Corley's term because Parrish said Corley created a vacancy when he automatically triggered the so-called resign-to-run rule about a month before he publicly announced his intent to run for an open congressional seat.
Meurer was to serve out Corley's term which ended on Dec. 31, 2026. Kevin Pounds, who is running uncontested in the November general election will likely be sworn in as the Lubbock County Precinct 2 commission in January.
Senior Judge Patrick Pirtle was assigned to preside over the case in the 237th District Court, where he set a Dec. 19 hearing on Corley's motion for a temporary injunction on Meurer's appointment.
During the hearing, Pirtle granted the Texas Attorney General's Office's motion to take over as plaintiff in the case. The AG's office appointed Brumley to represent the state.
Meanwhile, during the hearing on the temporary injunction, Brumley argued that Parrish incorrectly interpreted the constitutional provision known as the resign-to-run rule, in which elected officials with more than 1 year and 30 days left on their terms, are automatically removed from office if they become a candidate or announce their candidacy for another office.
Parrish, who is an attorney, told the court that he consulted with other lawyers about his interpretation of the statute.
He said he applied the state's Election Code to determine that Corley became a candidate and triggered the resign-to-rule.
Included in the Election Code's definition of a candidate is someone who either makes a public announcement of intent to run for office or making campaign expenditures.
Parrish cited multiple actions by Corley, which taken as a whole, indicated Corley made an announcement to run for another office before his official announcement on Dec. 2, 2025.
Those actions included an email he sent to Texas news stations on Nov. 12, 2025, using a "corleyforcongress@gmail.com" account in which he announced his exploratory committee for the congressional seat.
The announcement email also included a post office box for the campaign. Both the email and post office box amounted to campaign expenditures, Parrish said.
He also cited a text message Corley sent Kent Hance, chancellor emeritus of the Texas Tech University System and former U.S. Congressman.
In the text, Corley told Hance that he was running for Congress and asked what he could do to help Texas Tech University should he be elected.
However, Corley told the court that his message to Hance, which was private, was a typo and that he'd sent similar messages to other people in which he indicated he was forming an exploratory committee.
He also said the email address he used was made in 2014 for his 2015 congressional campaign and that the inclusion of the post office box in his announcement was a mistake, saying it had been used as his personal mailbox and was no longer in his name.
Other than an unpublished opinion from 1987 in which a justice of the peace was removed from office by Fort Bend County Commissioners after applying the election code to the resign-to-run rule, there did not appear to be any case law that would guide the court on the issue.
Unpublished opinions in civil cases before 2003 do not carry precedential value.
At the end of the hearing, Pirtle concluded that the Election Code's definition of a candidate didn't apply to the resign-to-run rule, which meant Corley had not announced his candidacy for Texas' 19th Congressional District or become a candidate in fact before his Dec. 2, 2025, announcement.
Pirtle granted the temporary injunction, which reinstated Corley, but declined to “mandate any particular action by Mr. Meurer" believing he would comply with the ruling.
Muerer appealed Pirtle's ruling, which halted the case at the district court level until the Seventh Court of Appeals made a ruling.
Oral arguments were set in the case for Oct. 13.
However, on Sept. 16, Muerer issued a statement saying he no longer plans to pursue the appeal or keep his appointment.
"I will not continue to participate in the legal action related to Judge Parish’s attempt to remove Commissioner Corley from office," he said in a statement through attorney David Glasheen. "I will withdraw from the pending litigation and leave the matter to Judge Parish and the State of Texas."
Glasheen is not representing Meurer and deferred any questions about the appeal to attorney Kristen LaFreniere who represented Meurer in the case at both the trial and appeals court levels.
At present, LaFreniere is still listed as the attorney in the appeal and a dismissal has yet to be filed.
An e-mail seeking comment from her has yet to be returned.
Meurer's statement comes after it was discovered he was still receiving a salary from his appointment.
Meurer said he initially brought up the issue to Parrish, who told him to keep the money "because the Court had not made a final ruling on who should hold the commissioner’s seat."
However, Muerer said he set aside the money and planned to return it.
"It was never my intention to keep a salary for duties I did not perform," he said. "I trusted that Judge Parish’s instructions to me were proper."
Parrish said he supported and understood Muerer's decision to withdraw, saying he the issues had "drawn out longer than any of us anticipated."
Commissioners on Monday voted 3-1 on a resolution supporting an independent investigation into the matter.
Lubbock County District Attorney Sunshine Stanek told the commissioners court that her office was already looking into the matter.
Gabriel Monte is the criminal justice reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in Texas. Have a news tip for him? Email him at gmonte@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lawsuit on Lubbock County commissioner appointment to be dismissed
