Combs blocked access to ranch, leaving several horses in danger and one euthanized
PRESIDIO COUNTY — A December 9 hearing in the lawsuit over the historic Brite Ranch brought to light one of the more contentious episodes in the six years of legal battles among siblings over the ranch. The court heard testimony that an interim trustee managing the ranch — Susan Combs — filed a criminal complaint with the Presidio County Sheriffs Office and in court for trespassing against James “Jim” White III and his entire family, including his son Cuatro. Combs also claimed that they had taken property “illegally” from the ranch.
Combs then blocked their access to the ranch, allegedly leading to the neglect of several horses and to the euthanization of one, according to legal documents obtained by The Big Bend Sentinel.
In 2018, Jim’s siblings — Mac, Beau and Hester Ann White — filed a lawsuit claiming Jim, living on and running the ranch, was not fairly distributing revenue to them from their family trust and sought his removal as trustee. A trial in the summer of 2023 ended with a court order removing Jim as trustee managing the ranch, and on September 3, 2023, the court appointed an interim trustee — Combs — to handle financial management, such as paying bills and distributing revenue to the trustees. Jim, Cuatro and Raphael, Jim’s daughter, objected to Combs’ appointment by District Judge Rex Emerson because they alleged Combs was a close friend of Beau’s wife, the late Kathleen Harnett White.
The Brite Ranch is estimated to be worth at least $60 million, but court records show the legal squabbles also center around differences in ideas about how to preserve or profit from the land. The ranch, nestled in the heart of western Presidio County north of Capote Peak, played an important role in the county’s history. Lucas Brite settled the land in 1885 and eventually established a 125,000-acre, thriving Highland Hereford cattle ranch. The ranch headquarters became a town of sorts with a store, post office and school. Jim, who grew up on the ranch and returned to it in the early 1970s after college, eventually took on the role of maintaining the property, while Mac and Hester Ann went to Marfa, and Beau eventually moved to Bastrop. Jim’s family has spoken openly about the desire to preserve the ranch, while Beau and Mac have indicated a desire to sell it.
After Combs was appointed interim trustee, it didn’t take long for a conflict to brew as Beau and Mac alleged that Jim and Cuatro and their families were taking property off the ranch home that was owned by the original Jane White Trust, according to court testimony and filings. The judge had given Jim 30 days to vacate his residence at the ranch, and Jim claimed the property was his, given to him over decades by his parents and from him living on the property for more than 50 years.
Testifying in the hearing on December 9, Combs said she had installed security cameras at the ranch gate that showed furniture and other items being hauled off on trailers, and after visiting the ranch headquarters and finding it almost empty, she filed a handwritten report with the Presidio County Sheriff’s Office on October 14, 2023, and had criminal trespass warnings served to Jim, Cuatro and Raphael and other family members. The Sheriff’s Office documents show they were given a warning to stay off the ranch or face a possible arrest on a Class C to Class A criminal trespassing misdemeanor, punishable by fines and up to 180 days in jail. The warnings were signed by Susan Combs.
Combs then enjoined herself in a motion filed by Mac and Beau claiming Jim and Cuatro were in contempt of court for not following court orders to stay off the ranch unless they had permission from Combs’ attorney to be there, according to court records. The contempt motion ended with a “prayer” asking the judge for relief of a “$500 fine and a commitment to Presidio County jail not to exceed 18 months” for Jim and Cuatro.
Combs, testifying remotely at the hearing, said it was never her intention to seek criminal penalties. “That was a remedy that [Mac and Beau] sought, not that I sought,” she said. “I did not at any point want for Jim White to be arrested … I wanted things to be returned.” Combs pointed out language from the contempt motion that stated she wanted a civil action. But Cuatro’s attorney then asked Combs why she would go to the sheriff and also sign a legal filing with that prayer, to which Combs continued to argue it was not her personal intent to have anyone put in jail.
Later, Jim emailed Combs and attorneys for Mac and Beau a long inventory of items taken off the ranch that fall. Raphael testified in the hearing that the items were indeed Jim’s, with the exception of a few things. “Yes, we were careful to only take what was his,” she testified. Jim’s attorney, Ted Lyon, asked her if it was an “emotional time.” Raphael responded that “yes” it was because they only had the 30 days to move Jim off the ranch. “We even asked if we could have some more time and Mrs. Combs said no,” she said. Eventually, Jim and his family returned the items to the ranch to await a court ruling. Raphael testified and court documents verify a variety of receipts and other papers then sent to Combs’ attorneys verifying Jim’s ownership of the assets.
With Cuatro — then the main caretaker for the ranch — barred from access, the level of care for several horses (some his, some belonging to the trust or others) was unknown. It was not reported in court or in documents obtained by The Sentinel who was caring for the horses. In a January 4, 2024, email from Cuatro’s attorney to Combs’ attorneys, he asks Combs for permission to get the animals and offers to buy any horses owned by the trust. Combs’ attorney responded on January 10 stating: “Ms. Combs is diligently making arrangements to safely transfer custody of Cuatro’s horses that are branded with a “Bar-O” [Cuatro’s brand] to a suitable third-party property. Ms. Combs believes she can accomplish this transfer in the next two weeks.” The parties kept sparring over how to prove who owned which horses, but most were eventually delivered to the county’s roping arena on January 14, according to sheriff’s reports.
Cuatro also reported the horses’ conditions to the Presidio County Sheriff’s Office, which came out to inspect and photograph the animals. Although the Sheriff’s Office didn’t have any reports on the meeting, it did provide a bodycam video showing a deputy meeting Jim and photographing the horses. “They shouldn’t neglect them just because they belong to my family,” Jim tells the deputy “We’ve been trying for three months. They wouldn’t let us have them.”
A letter from a veterinarian who examined the horses, dated January 14, 2024, said several horses were in the range of adequate for their weight and health but that one was underweight, had a respiratory infection, worms and split hooves. The horse was euthanized after not responding to treatment, according to a source close to the event who asked not to be named.
The testimony on the criminal threats and theft allegations came amidst a motion by Beau, Mac and Hester Ann to discharge Combs officially from her duties as interim trustee. Combs had resigned the position in March, but it was never confirmed with a court order. Combs told the court in the December 9 hearing she had been suffering severe health problems related to her back, and with no objections from either side, acting 394th District Judge Tryon Lewis of Odessa ordered the discharge. With that discharge motion, however, came a petition from Combs’ legal counsel for an additional $81,000 in attorney fees for the period from March to the December 9 hearing. The fees were in addition to the $151,000 already paid for counsel to Combs from September 2023 to March 2024. Combs testified and her attorney told the court that she “did not make a penny” from her services as the interim trustee.
Cuatro’s attorney, Don Campbell, opened a line of questioning attacking Combs for not fulfilling her duties as interim trustee to represent all the beneficiaries of the ranch trust by taking Beau and Mac’s word that Jim was stealing items. He called it a “false omission of a malfeasance of fiduciary duty” by not representing the interests of all beneficiaries equally. In a court filing, Jim and Cuatro stated Combs failed to “communicate with them effectively regarding Trust issues and/or Brite Ranch matters, yet she freely and repeatedly communicated substantively with two other beneficiaries, Mac White and Beau White.” Combs repeatedly testified that she understood her duty was to represent the interests of all the siblings. However, Raphael questioned why she never called Jim to ask about the items taken instead of filing the criminal complaints.
Campbell told Combs and her counsel that he had reviewed invoices from her attorneys and estimated that several were related to the contempt of court motion that sought the jailing of Jim and Cuatro for entering the ranch, in his estimate about $23,000 worth. Campbell told the court that if his attempt to stop the award of attorney fees failed, the court should consider an offset of that amount from the $81,000. But Campbell asked Combs if there was any consideration to “refund” attorney fees used on the contempt motion, and she replied, “No.”
The backdrop for the fight over trespassing is the final ruling from the jury trial in the summer of 2023 that made the siblings “co-tenants” for the ranch — which under Texas law would likely give them equal access to the property as well as a responsibility to maintain it, according to court filings by Jim’s attorneys. Campbell asked Combs, “Did you consider at all that Jim had the right to access the ranch,” to which Combs responded she was only answering questions about assets.
Campbell also told the court that it shouldn’t decide on the attorney fees at the hearing because Jim’s appeal on the summer of 2023 ruling was pending in the Eight Court of Appeals in El Paso with all testimony complete and judges considering a ruling. If they grant the appeal, it will void the appointment of Combs and thus would make all fees to her attorney ineligible for payment by the ranch’s trust, he said. However, Judge Lewis granted Combs’ request for fees in the days following the hearing.
Combs is a former Texas state comptroller and agriculture commissioner who worked closely with Beau’s wife. She was also close to Geoffrey Connor, a former Texas secretary of state, who Beau and Mac both adopted as their son at age 60 in January of 2022. And all of them were in the inner circle of former Gov. Rick Perry.
Jim’s family eventually did gain access to the ranch and have been the primary parties taking care of the property. On Tuesday, December 10, the court heard testimony from Cuatro on the need for the court registry to reimburse him for expenses from July 22 to November 8. The judge ordered the registry of the court to release $58,605 for those expenses. On Wednesday, the court heard a Motion for Governance to better define who would be responsible for what with the ranch. No ruling on that motion had been issued by The Sentinel deadline.
The attorneys for both sides started the December 9 hearing by conferring with the judge on an array of motions to consider — including a motion from Beau and Mac to appoint a receiver, a motion from Cuatro to partition the ranch, and various quash and dismissal motions. Judge Lewis said he is now hesitant to continue any of the issues that need to be resolved, since the continuances add more legal issues to be decided. “Every time we continue something we get 200 more pages of motions,” he said. He set the next hearing on the pleadings to February 7.
The parties involved in the lawsuits declined to comment on the advice of their attorney. The attorneys for Combs also declined to comment.