Former Mercer County Commissioner Brian W. Shipley was not in contempt of court when he cut up a county business credit card before a hearing in a lawsuit involving the card, Senior Judge Martin J. O'Brien ruled Friday.

O'Brien, a visiting judge from Butler County, dismissed a motion claiming Shipley broke state rules of civil procedure and hampered the legal process by destroying the card.

In his decision, O'Brien said he dismissed the motion because no one appealed his October dismissal of a lawsuit related to the credit card.

"Therefore, the court deems the motion ... to be moot," O'Brien said.

O'Brien also called the credit-card related lawsuit "moot" when he dismissed it in October.

The lawsuit was filed by The Herald in August, to determine whether business credit cards used by commissioners are county cards or personal ones and whether records for the cards are public or private information. The Herald sued county Controller Dennis Songer for access to the records under the state Sunshine Law. Songer refused to provide the records, saying he faced a lawsuit from Shipley if he did.

Shipley, 30, of Greenville got involved in the suit and fought for more than a month to keep records of his use of a county business credit card private. But on Sept. 11 the Republican commissioner volunteered his records to the media in an attempt to head off a Sept. 13 hearing at which he may have had to testify and produce the card as evidence.

The credit card records showed Shipley made more than $9,000 in charges in 13 months. About 90 percent of the charges were for personal expenses.

The bank closed the account in the spring after Shipley failed to make payments and during the summer asked the county to pay off the debt of nearly $5,000. Shipley paid off the card Aug. 1, the same day he was first questioned publicly about the matter.

The Sept. 13 hearing was continued until Oct. 23, when O'Brien dismissed the suit in a written ruling. "The matter became moot when the documents were made available," O'Brien said.

Shipley cut the card and returned it to the bank Sept. 20.

Five days before the Oct. 23 ruling, Mark Longietti, solicitor for Songer, filed the motion against Shipley for destroying the card prior to a hearing. A legal order filed in August requested Shipley to take the credit card to any hearing on the matter.

Shipley photocopied the card before he destroyed it and returned it to the bank. National City gave Longietti a copy of the photocopy last week. The front of the card lists Shipley and Mercer County as cardholders.

Mired in controversy surrounding his use of the credit card, a county cellular phone and a county computer, and violations of his campaign committee, Shipley resigned as commissioner Oct. 29.

A state Attorney General's Office investigation of Shipley is pending.

Throughout the suit, subsequent motion and two decisions, there were no courtroom hearings. Legal wrangling occurred behind closed doors between the judge and attorneys.

O'Brien apparently dictated his ruling to a court reporter Friday afternoon at Mercer County Courthouse, according to lawyers involved. O'Brien and the lawyers had met earlier in the day on the contempt motion.

The lawyers, who guessed the ruling would be handed down next month, received copies of it in the mail Monday.