SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit in a decades-old dispute over who owns roads crossing tribal lands used to access private property adjacent to San Ildefonso Pueblo.

The Santa Fe New Mexican reports that U.S. District Judge James Browning ruled on Saturday that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the complaint.

The ruling doesn’t end the dispute. The plaintiffs, a group called Northern New Mexicans Protecting Land, Water and Rights, can refile the suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims or appeal the decision.

The suit comes as the San Ildefonso Pueblo has been seeking payments for a range of rights of way including roads across tribal land. The residents who use those roads say the roads belong to the county and that they have “implied easements” to the roads.

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Information from: The Santa Fe New Mexican, http://www.sfnewmexican.com