Months after agreeing to settle the years-long dispute over the naming of the library, the status of the case is still pending, according to local court records.
A check the Tom Green County District Clerk’s docket shows the case has yet to be fully resolved.
In May of this year, The Concho Observer reported that Tom Green County officials met in closed session twice regarding Hughes vs. Tom Green County, signaling that some closure is nearing in the matter.
According to information from the plaintiff’s attorneys, the case began as a three-way dispute over the Estate of Duwain E. Hughes, between Charles Hughes, Tom Green County, and Southern Methodist University.
According to the last will and testament of Duwain E. Hughes in 1965, SMU inherited certain mineral rights for the purpose of establishing an endowed chair in the English Department.
Additionally, Hughes bequeathed his home and furnishings to Tom Green County, to be used as a branch library bearing his name, with the residue of his estate going to the Tom Green County Library for upkeep of the structure and purchase of new books.
The dispute arose in 1991 when SMU’s Board of Trustees sought to release a restriction on the amount of funds the university could access after proceeds from the mineral interests exceeded $1.5 million, the highest level of funding permitted by university regulations.
Tom Green County intervened, arguing the mineral interests reverted to the county, while Mr. Hughes’ nephew, Charles Hughes, intervened on behalf of himself and the other heirs-at-law seeking title to the mineral interests.
Charles Hughes and the County agreed to settle their claims against SMU in return for equal shares of $1 million, and Duwain Hughes name on the County library, if the commissioners determined the SMU settlement amount was substantial enough.
Tom Green County’s share of the $1 million settlement was the largest single donation it had ever received at that point, and the County Commissioners approved the settlement.
Seventeen-years later, when the county finally built a library, the Commissioners Court voted to name the library after Steve and Pollyanna Stephens, who chaired the $16 million fundraising campaign for the new library building.
Charles Hughes subsequently sued the County for breach of a settlement agreement.
News that a settlement had been reached in early June, was followed in August by some details of the settlement, which calls for Tom Green County to compensate Hughes $450,000, by means of establishing a trust or something similar, and naming the library building in Duwain Hughes’ honor.
According to records obtained by The Concho Observer in July, Tom Green County taxpayers have picked up legal expenses associated with the lawsuit totaling $464,771.23 across 11 years of legal action.
Multiple requests for a copy of any settlement agreement or status update from Tom Green County Judge Lane Carter regarding this case have gone unanswered.
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Concho Observer Editor Jon Mark Hogg contributed to this report.
