The Texas Court of Appeals has ruled that the losing party in a multimillion-dollar estate dispute can challenge the final judgment in that case based on allegations that the Dallas probate judge who presided over it had an “undisclosed personal relationship” with an opposing lawyer during the litigation.

The case was handled by John Peyton Jr., a former Dallas associate probate judge who entered into a voluntary agreement resigning from office earlier this year in lieu of discipline from State Commission on Judicial Conduct. According to the February agreement, Peyton resigned after the publication of an article in the April 2017 edition of D Magazine called “Ardor in the Court,” which detailed Peyton’s alleged affair with Dallas probate attorney Mary Burdette.