LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- A county court in Oklahoma shot down an attempt by a property owner to claim Texas land across the Red River in a lawsuit that sought to "quiet title" some 160 acres of ranchland.

A second similar lawsuit filed by another Oklahoma landowner is still pending.

Bryan County, Oklahoma, resident Craig Hilliard sued several Texas residents, asking a court to resolve a border dispute, claiming he has owned property along the Red River for 15 years after previous owners abandoned the ground, according to court documents filed in the District Court of Bryan County in Oklahoma.

A quiet title court action is used to resolve ownership disputes, ensuring that property owners have undisputed rights to property.

Hilliard owned about 73 acres, and a 2024 land survey found there had been an accretion of land formed by slow, natural deposit of soil, sand or otherwise, increasing the actual size of the property to about 165 acres.

As a result, Hilliard asked the court to set the southern boundary of the property to reflect the most recent land survey.

Oklahoma law says riparian owners are entitled to land gained through accretion. However, doing so in this case would cross the border into Texas.

Since agencies from the state of Texas were named in the lawsuit filed in August 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got involved in the case.

Paxton made the case that the lawsuit "improperly relied" on a 1923 U.S. Supreme Court opinion that identified the Texas-Oklahoma border as the lower bank of the Red River.

However, the boundary between Texas and Oklahoma was determined by the 1999 Red River Boundary Compact between the states and approved by Congress in 2000.

Paxton argued the Oklahoma property owner could not sue Texas in Oklahoma state court, or anywhere else, without Texas's consent.

"The full force of the law will come crashing down on anyone trying to seize Texas land," Paxton said in a statement following the court's ruling.

One of the defendants, Big River Ranch LLC, filed a motion in February 2026 to dismiss the case. Big River sits on about 1,500 acres in Ivanhoe, Texas, and runs about 300 head of cattle.

The ranch argued in court documents that the county court in Oklahoma lacked jurisdiction over the Texas ranch.

"Here, the disputed point is whether the strip plaintiff seeks to claim is within Oklahoma at all," Big River told the court.

"Big River makes no claim to any property in Oklahoma. Without any determination that the property is in Oklahoma, Big River has no property within the borders of Oklahoma. Furthermore, if accretion were to shift to defendant's rights to property from Texas into Oklahoma, that results in unpredictability in the legal system. A quiet title action can no longer be local or an in rem proceeding if the land crosses into another state."

Big River has also filed a motion to dismiss another similar case in Bryan County filed by Curtis Lee Enterprises LLC. That plaintiff also names Hilliard as a defendant.

Curtis Lee Enterprises said in its lawsuit that on March 27, 2025, it purchased 121 acres of land in Bryan County. The company pointed to a land survey done in May 2024 that shows accretion of land to the property they purchased from the Red River.

The lawsuit argues that by quiet title, the company now owns about 171 acres. Just like the first lawsuit, Curtis Lee Enterprises asks the court to move the southern boundary of the land it owns to reflect the survey results.

The company also asks for similar action from the court on a second tract of land, expanding through accretion from 49 acres to 66 acres.

Big River Ranch also filed a motion to dismiss the second case in October 2025.

The ranch said the plaintiff in the case "cannot bootstrap jurisdiction" by declaring surveys conclusively place the land in Oklahoma.

"The compact recognizes the natural processes of accretion and erosion may cause the Red River's vegetation line -- and thus the interstate boundary -- to move," Big River said in its motion to dismiss.

"But Article VII of the same compact expressly provides that the compact does not change 'the title of any person' or 'the boundaries of those lands.' In other words, while the sovereign line may move between the states, the compact does not authorize an Oklahoma trial court to redraw private boundaries or adjudicate title to Texas property."

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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