PRESIDIO COUNTY — Cibolo Creek Ranch, the upscale resort south of Marfa, is suing a newcomer landowner who has locked the ranch out of a historic road that leads to its other properties.
At issue is Cibolo Creek Ranch’s attempt to have its historical access to two of its properties and a cattle operation. The luxury ranch contains three main sites, all of which are restored forts from the late 1800s: El Fortin (or Cibolo Fort of the Bison), a resort located on the west side of Highway 67 south of Marfa, as well as La Cienega and La Morita, guest accommodations located on the east side of the highway.
Cibolo Creek Ranch is owned by billionaire John Poindexter, who filed for a temporary injunction on June 2 after claiming his operation has been locked out of using La Morita Road, a private road that begins in Shafter and crosses through several properties on its way to the La Morita guesthouse and La Cienega sites. The road continues on to another Cibolo holding, the Harper Ranch, which has livestock. The plaintiff alleges that Johnny Weisman, who bought the 70,000-acre Lely Ranch in September, intentionally locked gates barring Cibolo Creek Ranch from passing through his property on La Morita Road to get to the destinations.
The lawsuit is technically being brought by Southwestern Holdings, Inc., (Cibolo Creek Ranch) against Hunter JRW Holdings, LLC. Poindexter began building his resorts in 1990 around the restoration of two forts used by Milton Faver, an original settler in the area in the late 1850s. Poindexter’s success came from a variety of businesses, notably a specialty truck manufacturing company.
Weisman made his fortunes as founder of Hunter JRW Holdings, a company specializing in state road construction projects. After his purchase of the Lely Ranch, Weisman dubbed it the “Flying W Ranch.” The sale price was not disclosed, but the property was listed for $25.9 million.
La Morita Road crosses four separate property owners’ land, but according to the Cibolo Creek Ranch complaint seeking access to the entirety of the road, gates along the road have traditionally been open to all of those various landowners. “For more than a hundred years, the road has been open to area landowners, and that’s how it needs to remain,” Tom Davis, Cibolo Creek Ranch general manager, told The Big Bend Sentinel.
One of Cibolo Creek Ranch’s biggest objections is losing access to its plot east of the Cienegas Mountains called Harper Ranch, where cattle are located. (They are still able to access the La Morita and La Cienega properties via a different route.) “This lack of access puts Plaintiffs livestock at risk of starvation and injury,” the petition states. “Plaintiff does not have a feasible alternative to access Harper Ranch to check on the well-being of its livestock.”
The petition states that the ranch’s property rights are being attacked due to an inability to access land that it has otherwise been able to access for decades. It also claims Cibolo Creek Ranch’s long history of use should give it an easement to travel the road. “Plaintiff is entitled to use Morita Road through Flying W. Ranch as a prescriptive easement, which is acquired by the open, notorious, continuous, exclusive, and adverse use to access the Property,” the petition states.
In an answer to the petition, Weisman’s attorney — Rod Ponton — disputed the assertion that the road was used extensively by Cibolo Creek Ranch, and instead said it was “a very roughshod, abandoned-seeming road throughout the last couple decades.” “By the time Defendant [Weisman] purchased, the road was nearly impassable in places,” Ponton wrote.
“Johnny Weisman has owned Texas ranches since the 1980s, and always respects private property rights,” Ponton said later in a statement. “Although Cibolo Creek Ranch has owned an existing easement to access its ranch across the Boerschig Ranch since 1990, it has now decided to try to take part of the Flying W Ranch, without any legal right to do so. In Texas, we respect and uphold private property rights. We are confident that the Texas court will continue to respect the private property rights of the Flying W Ranch against the bullying tactics of Cibolo Creek Ranch.”
Ponton’s answer to the lawsuit argued that Cibolo Creek Ranch didn’t meet any of the requirements for a prescriptive easement and stated that it never attempted to find other means of access to its Harper Ranch with livestock, such as from Casa Piedra to the east. While Cibolo Creek Ranch provided affidavits from employees that attested to widespread use of Morita Road over a long period of time, Ponton’s answer responded with affidavits from several Shafter residents and people associated with the Lely Ranch that acknowledged, but downplayed, the ranch’s use of the road over the years. They also stated that they always viewed the road as private and only accessible with permission.
Email exhibits in the lawsuit show a Poindexter representative seeking an agreement for access with Weisman last fall with correspondence back and forth with Weisman. Weisman made his position clear in an October email: “In closing, I will always be a good neighbor with all my neighbors in Presidio County including Cibolo Creek Ranch, Mr. Poindexter, you and staff. However, as I spoke with you last week, I have put new locks and chains at our common gate at Morita with a no trespassing sign. You do not have an easement across my ranch and never did have one. Let’s mutually respect each other’s property rights. Please only enter my ranch with my express permission.”
The two wealthy men share neighboring property on La Morita Road, but they are also neighbors of sorts within the tiny ghost town of Shafter. Poindexter has bought most of the core lots and structures there and is undertaking a massive restoration project of buildings for a heritage site with walk-in museums, antique cars and gas pumps, possible renovation of the historic Catholic Church and a cafe on the highway. Weisman bought a house down the road in Shafter, which he has renovated extensively for a getaway location for him and his wife. He has even been seen landing his helicopter on a few occasions to see how the house project is progressing.
Also involved in the initial gate battles was the Fuentes Ranch, the first ranch on La Morita Road out of Shafter. In a February letter from attorney Sam Ballard — representing Fuentes owner David Loustaunau — to Weisman, he wrote: “It is our understanding that sometime in October 2024, you cut a chain securing a private gate on the Ranch and installed your own lock without permission. You did this with knowledge that you were trespassing on private property as there is clear signage. … We have removed your lock from the gate and also placed a chain across the main entrance to the Ranch. You are notified that any further entry by you or anyone under your direction or the direction of John Weisman, the sole owner of Holdings LLC, without the express written permission of the Ranch owners, will be a further trespass and breach of the peace.”
The Fuentes Ranch is not a party in the lawsuit, and Loustaunau and Ballard did return requests for comment, so it’s uncertain if any disputes remain with Weisman.
When Ponton, in his capacity as then-county attorney, stood up to make comments at a spring 2024 candidates forum for his reelection, he threw out a dig at two Marfans embroiled in a lawsuit over whether the road to their property was public (county-owned) or private. Mary Baxter and Neil Chavigny contended the road — Naegele Springs Road — was private, after locking out another landowner who recently purchased adjacent property. Ponton initially represented that landowner in a lawsuit to define it as a public road and open up the gate. (He later was forced off the case due to a conflict of interest as a county official.) Ponton told the forum that Baxter and Chavigny needed to be more respectful of the Presidio County tradition of open and neighborly conduct by opening up the gate. While the issues are somewhat different, Ponton is now arguing to keep gates closed to neighbors.
Ballard, the attorney representing the Cibolo Creek and Fuentes ranches, also was the counsel for Baxter and Chavigny and is now switching from arguing to keep a gate locked to a petition to keep gates open.
A hearing has not yet been scheduled, but is expected to take place in September.
Read the lawsuit documents:
Cibolo Creek Ranch petition
Petition exhibits
Defendant’s original answer and counter exhibits
Defendant’s brief in support of original answer
Defendant’s objections to affidavits
Defendant plea in abatement