A briefing and vote that would have authorized a county attorney in Texas to sue Merscorp was delayed Tuesday.
The Harris County Commissioners Court was scheduled to meet in a closed-door executive session Tuesday to review a request to authorize County Attorney Vince Ryan to file a lawsuit against Merscorp, its subsidiary Mortgage Electronic Registration System, Inc. “and other responsible parties to recover sums owed to the county for failure to pay filing fees.”
But that briefing was postponed until the court's upcoming Nov. 12 meeting. While the county attorney's office has been individually briefing the court's members, there were additional questions the attorney's office needed to address before the executive session briefing and an open court vote on the measure could happen, Robert Soard, the office's chief of staff said.
“There's no reason to rush the vote,” Soard said. “It's an important lawsuit and an important case and we want to make sure everyone is comfortable with this project.”
One question, posed by Judge Ed Emmett, was whether Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott intended to pursue claims for all the counties of Texas.
A spokesperson said Abbott's office hasn't been contacted by Harris County about MERS and could not immediately say whether it's an issue Abbott would take up.
Following the
Texas county commissioners courts serve in a similar capacity as a city council, with a judge elected at-large to head a panel of elected commissioners who represent districts within the jurisdiction. The Harris County Attorney is also an elected official that pursues civil litigation for the region of more than 4 million residents that includes Houston and other smaller municipalities and unincorporated areas.
