Attorney: Suit over wife's affair with police chief is 'frivolous litigation'

Princeton, Texas, is located just northeast of Dallas. (Google Maps) Princeton, Texas, is located just northeast of Dallas. (Google Maps) Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Attorney: Suit over wife's affair with police chief is 'frivolous litigation' 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

An attorney for a Texas police chief being sued for harassment by a physician over an extramarital affair said on Monday that the suit is meaningless.

"On his behalf I will say, in no uncertain terms, that this lawsuit presents a case study in what frivolous litigation is all about," attorney Bob Gorsky said by email.

Gorsky, of the Dallas firm Lyon, Gorsky, Gilbert & Livingston, is representing Kyle Police Chief Jeffrey Barnett, who was previously chief in Princeton, Texas.

Gorsky said Monday that Barnett had not yet been served with the suit.

Dr. Glen W. Hurlston, of Vernon Parish, La., filed the harassment lawsuit Dec. 27 in U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas, in Sherman.

In addition to Barnett, other defendants in the suit are Lt. Robert Mitchnik and other unnamed officers in the Princeton Police Department; and the cities of Princeton and Kyle.

According to Hurlston's complaint, his wife, Suzanne Hurlston, had an affair with Barnett for several years and bore him a son. At times, she fraudulently claimed the child was Hurlston's, the suit states.

Hurlston claims in the lawsuit that Barnett used his position as Princeton police chief to instruct other officers, including Mitchnik, to harass him.

According to the complaint, Mitchnik and other officers arrested Hurlston Jan. 1, 2012, on a charge of domestic abuse battery "without substantial evidence."

The charge was later reduced to a minor misdemeanor, to which Hurlston pleaded no contest, the suit states.

Hurlston claims he wouldn't have been arrested if it hadn't been for his wife's relationship with Princeton officers and their former chief.

Gorsky's email stated that Hurlston's complaint does not mention that his arrest occurred nine months after Barnett had left Princeton.

"Chief Barnett resigned in early 2011 and after a few months of consulting for the police department, he had nothing further to do with its operations," Gorsky wrote.

"It strains the imagination that many months after he left Princeton, Jeff Barnett would be a 'puppet master' controlling the actions of a city police department. Furthermore, by Dr. Hurlston's own admission he did not contest the criminal charge, which is telling."

In the complaint, Hurlston said the Princeton police department's harassment over the next year included numerous threats that he would be arrested if he "showed his face" in Collin County, for telephoning and texting his wife and her new boyfriend.

As for his wife, Hurlston's complaint states that she had "waxed hot and cold" since January 2012, going along with him as long as he provided money for her support, including paying for a photography course in Paris, France.

Hurlston is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees. He is represented by attorney James B. Doyle of Lake Charles, La.