Local Rancher Sues Former Business Partners for Defamation

SAN ANGELO, TX – A Mertzon rancher with a 30-year reputation in the livestock industry has filed a lawsuit in Tom Green County, alleging defamation and other claims against former business partners who he says falsely accused him of sexual assault, resulting in widespread damage to his reputation, loss of income, and personal anguish.

Oney Cordes, the plaintiff, filed the lawsuit against Dr. Elisabeth Lorraine Noelke and her daughter Kahlan Dietz, claiming they engaged in a campaign to ruin his standing in the community through false allegations and defamatory social media posts. According to the court filing, Cordes is seeking damages for defamation, tortious interference with business relations, civil conspiracy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Cordes, who has managed and operated the Noelke family ranch in Irion County since the late 1990s, contends that he was wrongfully terminated in early 2021 after being accused by Dietz of sexually assaulting her, a claim that had previously been dismissed by investigators in 2016 due to lack of evidence. Despite this, Cordes alleges, Dietz began repeating the allegations in late 2020 and early 2021, claiming on social media platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat that Cordes had assaulted her as a child. These statements, Cordes argues, were made to deliberately damage his reputation within the close-knit ranching community.

Examples of these statements include:

• August 17, 2023 (Instagram): Dietz posted, “Oney literally refused to do a lie detector test when the Texas Rangers asked cause he knew he molested me since I was 12 (he was 50) till I was 16.”
• November 12, 2023 (Snapchat): Dietz posted, “Mr. Cordes is the man who molested and touched me my whole entire childhood.”

Upon discovering these posts, the plaintiff issued a cease-and-desist notice on February 6, 2024, demanding Dietz retract her statements from a “Pool Hall incident” and remove the defamatory posts from her social media. 

Court documents reveal that on January 10, 2024, during a deposition for an unrelated case, James Atcheson testified about defamatory statements allegedly made by Kahlan Dietz at Giz & Hum’s Billiards & Brew in San Angelo. Atcheson, a first cousin of Dr. Elisabeth Noelke and a longtime acquaintance of Cordes stated that Dietz falsely claimed Cordes had been “charged with sexually molesting multiple young girls” and had “pleaded guilty to criminal molestation charges.”

Atcheson, who owns property near the Noelke Ranch and has leased a home to Cordes’s daughter for over a decade, described having “a very great respect” for Cordes. He testified that Dietz’s comments implied the criminal allegations against Cordes were true, though Dietz failed to disclose that she was the complainant in the case. Atcheson said Dietz specifically told him, “Oney had pled guilty to the charges against him,” and inferred that the allegations involved the sexual molestation of young girls—claims that Cordes categorically denies.

Dietz responded, indicating she would provide a written retraction for her Pool Hall statements, but refused to remove her online posts. 

The plaintiff argues that Dietz’s actions, including her online claims of support from “security, guards, officers, and judges,” go beyond free speech and have caused harm to his good name. He seeks a court-ordered retraction and public correction of her statements.

The plaintiff also claims that Dr. Noelke, despite knowledge of sexual assault allegations since 2015, did not act against him until early 2021. Until then, she allegedly continued to benefit from his expertise in livestock breeding under the Cordes and Noelke Club Lambs partnership.

The lawsuit states that these accusations led Dr. Noelke, who inherited the ranch after her father’s passing, to not only terminate Cordes’s employment but also to evict him, his family, and his livestock from the ranch. Cordes alleges that the eviction took place during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, forcing him to move his livestock amid extreme weather conditions, resulting in losses from livestock deaths and the auction of sheep at a reduced rate.

Cordes claims the defamatory statements reached several members of the Concho Valley community. 

The suit seeks both general and specific damages, stating that Cordes has lost over $85,000 in wages and benefits, as well as future business opportunities due to a tarnished reputation. In total, the Plaintiff’s claim includes $250,000 as part of the damages related to these issues.

Cordes contends that potential customers who previously sought to purchase livestock have withdrawn due to concerns over his alleged criminal history. He is also asking the court to require Dietz to issue a public retraction and acknowledge the falsehood of her statements.

According to the complaint, Cordes’s loss extends beyond financial harm. The alleged defamatory acts have caused Cordes and his family public humiliation, mental anguish, and social isolation, with many former business associates and community members reportedly distancing themselves from him.

Cordes’s legal representation from the San Antonio-based firm Davis, Cedillo & Mendoza, Inc. argues that the defendants’ actions were without legitimate cause, accusing them of acting with “malice” in an attempt to permanently damage Cordes’s livelihood and reputation.

In response to the lawsuit, the defendants, Dr. Noelke and Dietz, have denied the plaintiff’s allegations and filed motions to transfer the case from Tom Green County to Irion County. The defendants argue that many of the claims raised by the plaintiff, Oney Cordes, stem from facts and issues already litigated in Irion County. They assert that maintaining the case in Tom Green County would lead to unnecessary duplication and potential inconsistencies in legal outcomes.

The defendants’ motion states that Cordes’s claims against Dr. Noelke—such as tortious interference with prospective business relations, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and civil conspiracy—relate to the termination of his employment as a ranch foreman and the dissolution of the Cordes and Noelke Club Lambs partnership. 

They argue these matters have been previously addressed in an Irion County court, where a judge ruled that Cordes’s employment was at-will and that no formal partnership existed between the parties.

Additionally, the defendants challenged Cordes’s choice of venue, questioning whether Dietz was a resident of Tom Green County at the time the lawsuit was filed. They argue that evidence, including deposition testimony, indicates Dietz was in the process of moving out of Texas when the suit was filed, which they claim invalidates Cordes’s basis for filing in Tom Green County.

The defendants contend that transferring the case to Irion County would better serve the interests of justice, avoid duplication of legal proceedings, and ensure consistency in rulings, given the ongoing litigation there involving related issues.

As Cordes seeks a jury trial in Tom Green County, the court is expected to address the venue dispute in upcoming hearings.