A Cody lawmaker does not need to reimburse her ex-boyfriend for a set of international airplane tickets, as a judge found she never agreed to go on the trip.

Following a two-day small claims trial, Park County Circuit Court Judge Joey Darrah ruled in favor of state Rep. Nina Webber, R-Cody.

Her former partner, Scott Weber of Wapiti, had been seeking $6,000 for tickets to Zimbabwe that he’d purchased in Nina Webber’s name. He testified that Nina Webber agreed to join him on the May safari before he booked the flights.

However, she testified that — after a 2023 trip included a theft and deadly snake in their hunting camp and an unsettling encounter in which a group of local men chanted “white witch” at her — she had made it clear she would never go back. Park County Republican Party Chairman Vince Vanata testified on Nina Webber’s behalf, recalling the lawmaker saying there was “no f—ing way” she would return to Zimbabwe.

Scott Weber contended that his ex was exaggerating some of the incidents and wholly made up the “white witch” story, but Judge Darrah said he believed Nina Webber’s account.

“Certainly I understand why Mr. Weber wouldn’t feel that way, because I think us guys would look at those situations [and] it would be more innocuous. And so I don’t disagree that he [Weber] didn’t think it was a big deal,” Darrah said, referring to one of the incidents in camp, “but I do think it was to Ms. Webber under the circumstances.”

After Webber was elected to the Wyoming Legislature in late 2024, “her priorities changed,” Darrah said, “and I don’t believe that she ever consented to this.”

A small group of supporters accompanied Webber to the hearings in the civil case. Following Darrah’s Dec. 23 ruling in her favor, she posted a selfie from in front of the Park County Courthouse that included fellow state Rep. Paul Hoeft, R-Powell.

“Truth WINS,” Webber wrote in the Facebook post. She reiterated her belief that the small claims suit from her ex was a “personal attack” and thanked those who stood by her.

Meanwhile, Scott Weber sent the Tribune a statement asserting that his former partner lied under oath. He vowed to appeal.

“Surely an appellate judge looking at our documents will see through her lies and bombastic fabrications,” Weber wrote.

Political couple

Scott Weber and Nina Webber were a couple for close to a decade. She testified that she moved into his Wapiti home in December 2018, as she was wrapping up a term as the Hot Springs County Clerk.

She soon got involved in Park County Republican politics. Webber made unsuccessful bids for the Legislature in 2020 and 2022 before breaking through and winning the House District 24 seat in 2024; Scott Weber served as one of her most vocal supporters throughout all three campaigns, though Nina Webber testified that they began to have some disagreements.

It was in December 2024, shortly after Webber officially won her House seat, that Scott Weber purchased the tickets for the Zimbabwe trip. By his account, Nina Webber was sitting nearby when he booked the fares, which ran about $6,300 apiece.

“I turned to her, and I go, ‘Babe, we are going. I am so freaking excited,’” Weber recalled.

He was adamant that Nina Webber was on board, testifying that, “It’s a $70,000 trip: You don’t make it up that you hope somebody goes later.”

However, Nina Webber said she’d been clear that she would not return to Zimbabwe and would be too busy with her legislative and Republican Party duties to go on the trip.

During her direct examination, Webber said she didn’t learn of the ticket purchase until the end of the Legislative Session in March. On cross examination, however, she said Scott Weber “said he purchased those tickets” while “I was running a campaign for an election.”

“Well, you’d already won the election, right?” pressed Scott Weber’s attorney, David Hill.

“Well sure, and if you would have won yours, you would have seen immediately that that’s when all the work starts,” Nina Webber responded.

She eventually said that she recalled Scott Weber talking about the tickets in December, but didn’t know he’d actually purchased them until March.

As for her comment to Hill, that was a reference to his unsuccessful 2024 run against Rep. Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, R-Cody. Both Webber and Rodriguez-Williams were backed by the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, while Hill was not.

Nina Webber’s barb also highlighted some of the political undertones of the case. Both Nina Webber and her attorney, former Big Horn Basin Tea Party organizer Rob DiLorenzo, charged that the suit was an attempt to destroy her political career; Hill and Scott Weber said it was simply about the plane tickets.

Contested tickets

After the 2025 Legislative Session wrapped up, it was clear to both parties that Nina Webber wouldn’t be going, and Scott Weber began working on ways to get her $6,386.61 worth of tickets refunded. Nina Webber had returned from Cheyenne with a sinus infection, and in late March, she obtained a note from a Cody physician assistant that said she couldn’t make the African trip in May due to medical reasons.

However, that wasn’t good enough for the travel agency, so Scott Weber next decided to dispute the charge to his American Express card.

At that point, “all H-E-L-L broke loose,” Weber recalled, saying the company threatened to cancel his own ticket and put his entire safari in jeopardy.

Weber said he agreed to withdraw his protest and the company agreed to let Nina Webber use the $6,300 on any other airfare in 2025; that credit ultimately went unused, as Nina Webber never claimed it.

In part because of the ticket dispute, Scott Weber told Nina Webber to move out of his home in June. He then hired Hill, who sent Nina Webber a formal request for repayment on June 26. Scott Weber filed his small claims suit in early August.

Contentious litigation

Though small claims actions tend to be fairly straightforward, this case became contentious. For example, Hill suggested in one filing that Nina Webber might have committed a felony by continuing to list Scott Weber’s home as her address when she renewed her vehicle registration in September; DiLorenzo fired back that Hill was using “threats of criminal action as leverage” and acting unethically.

The charged tone continued into the trial, with the parties seeking to undercut each others’ and their witnesses’ credibility. For example, Hill sought to press GOP chairman Vanata about the circumstances of his 2011 exit from the Cody Police Department, but Darrah blocked that line of questioning.

Hill, who’s also a GOP precinct committeeman, then tried asking Vanata, “Is it true that in 2024, I brought this [Cody police] matter up to you and you threatened to fight me at a Republican Party meeting?”

However, as Vanata began to answer and dispute the premise of Hill’s question, Darrah intervened and ruled it also was irrelevant.

Precinct seat

Nina Webber had been serving as a precinct committeewoman for the North Fork area when she moved out of Scott Weber’s Wapiti home. In early August, Park County Commissioner and Wapiti resident Scott Steward emailed Vanata and asked if the party was looking into Nina Webber’s move, as committee members must live within the precinct they’re representing.

Vanata testified that he didn’t take any immediate action, likening the situation to someone losing their home in a fire and noting that Weber and Webber could have reunited.

However, Vanata said he eventually asked Nina Webber about her living arrangements, explaining that, “I need to move forward and look to fill a vacancy, or be able to say that you live in your district.” 

By November, Nina Webber had found a place in the City of Cody and she decided to resign her position. While she moved out of her precinct, Webber testified that she remained within her legislative district, House District 24, the entire time.

As Judge Darrah laid out his Dec. 23 ruling in favor of Nina Webber, he complimented the lawmaker for running for the legislative seat — particularly after her first two campaigns were unsuccessful.

“I admire her temerity and tenacity to continue and to put herself out there,” Darrah said. “I can tell you, I tried to become a judge several times and I failed, and it’s a humiliating thing. But if it’s something you really want, you put yourself out there.”

Those who run for public office should be commended, the judge said, for giving the public a choice.

Scott Weber has 30 days from the judgment to file a formal appeal, which would be heard in Park County District Court.