Update 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, 7-7-26: This afternoon, Daniel Wong sent out a statement that he “voluntarily dismissed” his case against Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson, not because the legal questions have been resolved, but because they can now be addressed directly in one case. “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,” Wong’s spokesman said in the press release.
Original story:
Hours after Daniel Wong sued Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson on Monday, asking for a district court to confirm his appointment to the county judge’s seat remains valid, Smith-Lawson submitted her own legal filing.
The county attorney’s office issued a press release around 7 p.m. Monday, saying that Wong has no lawful right to serve as Fort Bend County judge and a copy of a legal filing requesting court orders “to prevent further confusion, protect confidential attorney-client communications, and avoid legally questionable county contracts and records while the case is pending.”
Wong was appointed in April by Jeth Jones, a Republican district judge from Galveston who was presiding over a civil case involving former Fort Bend County Judge KP George. The civil case was dropped June 17, the day after George was sentenced in a felony money laundering case. At the time, several Democrats, including Smith-Lawson, said that means the order appointing Wong expired.
Wong’s hired attorney Chris Hilton maintains that his client is protected by the Texas Constitution’s “holdover provision” that keeps an elected or appointed official in place until a successor is duly qualified.
Wong is the Republican nominee for county judge and will face the Democrat nominee, Commissioner Dexter McCoy, in November.
At a June 25 commissioners court meeting, the first time the group convened after Wong’s appointment allegedly expired on the 17th, McCoy and fellow Democrat Grady Prestage walked out, leaving Wong to preside over the meeting with two fellow Republican commissioners, Andy Meyers and Vincent Morales. McCoy has asked Wong “do the statesman thing” and step aside until the voters can decide in November whether they want him to be judge, or at least until he can produce a court order saying his appointment is valid.
Hilton said in a statement Monday that Smith-Lawson was wasting county resources “in pursuit of her own partisan, political agenda.” Meanwhile, Wong has been accused of doing the same thing and Smith-Lawson and others have expressed concern that actions taken by commissioners since June 17 could later be challenged in court.
Wong’s lawsuit requests that a district judge confirm that his appointment remains legally effective, that the Texas Constitution requires continuity in public office until a lawful successor is duly qualified, and that actions taken by the county attorney exceeded the authority entrusted to her office, according to documents provided by Wong this week.
Smith-Lawson’s countersuit asks the court to “declare that Mr. Wong has no legal right to hold or exercise the office of Fort Bend County Judge and to remove any claim that he does.”
“Daniel Wong is exercising the powers of Fort Bend County Judge,” Smith-Lawson’s legal filing states. “Nothing gives him that authority. Texas law governing this matter is settled.”
Smith-Lawson, a Democrat elected twice by Fort Bend County voters, said in a statement Monday that she is “acting squarely within my statutory duty to represent the state in district court and to bring quo warranto proceedings when someone is alleged to be unlawfully holding a public office.”
“This is an institutional responsibility assigned to my office by the Texas Constitution and Legislature; it is not a political or partisan decision,” she said. “My obligation is to the law, to the institution of county government, and to the residents of Fort Bend County who expect their officials to serve under clear and lawful authority. Mr. Wong’s lawsuit against me is an effort to coerce, bully, and intimidate me from doing my duty as Fort Bend County Attorney.”
