351st District Judge George Powell, left, and Houston lawyer Natalia Cornelio, Democratic candidate for 351st District Court, right.

Houston Judge George Powell is now assured he'll appear on the Democratic Primary ballot after his opponent lost an appeal in an election dispute stemming from a shortfall in Powell's application filing fee.

Natalia Cornelio, who's challenging Powell for the 351st District Court in Harris County, sought a writ of mandamus to overturn a trial court decision that ordered the Harris County Democratic Party to certify Powell as a candidate, and put his name on the primary ballot.

But the Fourteenth Court of Appeal on Thursday ruled that Cornelio didn't qualify for mandamus relief.

The per curiam opinion explained that a writ of mandamus is only appropriate if a trial court clearly abused its discretion, and the relator lacks an adequate appellate remedy. Yet Cornelio never filed a notice of appeal or attempted to secure an accelerated process, the opinion said. Also, she had already attempted to get an emergency motion for a stay of the trial court's order, but the Texas Supreme Court denied her request, the opinion said.

"I was disappointed that they chose to seek mandamus, but … I was very happy that the court saw this for what it was, and swiftly ruled for Judge Powell," said Powell's attorney, Kent Schaffer, partner in Schaffer Carter & Associates in Houston. "Now I'm hoping they let it go and let the voters decide who ought to be the next judge."

Cornelio said she would not appeal the Fourteenth Court's ruling and instead would focus on her campaign for the primary.

"My opponent and I have both been impacted by the uncertainty of this legal situation for over a month, and now it is finally resolved. However, the problems in our criminal justice system will continue until we elect judges prepared to do something about them," she said. "I am running for judge to ensure that our courts serve the community, have better bail practices and guarantee equal justice under the law."

Powell didn't immediately return a call or email seeking comment about the ruling.

The judge applied for a place on the ballot Dec. 9, which was the deadline for candidates to file to run. A staff member of the Harris County Democratic Party inadvertently told him his filing fee was $1,500, and a manager accepted Powell's application without noting the filing fee error. Powell was supposed to have paid $2,500.

But just after this, Powell assisted another candidate by writing a $2,500 check for her filing fee and allowing her to reimburse him later, since she only had a debit card, which the party wouldn't accept. That candidate was eventually rejected for other reasons, and Powell argued that the party should have applied that $2,500 to his own filing fee, rather than rejecting him as a candidate for failing to pay the right amount.

A trial judge sided with his arguments and ordered the party to accept his application, certify him as a candidate and place his name on the primary ballot.

Because the Fourteenth Court rejected Cornelio's attempt to overturn that order, it means that the local Democratic party must place Powell's name on the ballot.

Those ballots must meet a Jan. 18 deadline to go to the printer.