Supreme Court decides venue for lawsuits under the state's civil rights law

SANTA FE – The state Supreme Court today resolved an undecided question of law about where people must file lawsuits against cities and counties under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act (NMCRA).

The Court unanimously concluded that claims against a municipality under the NMCRA must be filed in a district court in the county where the community is located and a county must be sued within that county, unless another provision of law specifically requires the lawsuit to be brought elsewhere. The justices rejected arguments that plaintiffs could file lawsuits under the NMCRA in any district court of their choosing across the state.

The civil rights law was enacted in 2021 to provide a basis in New Mexico law to sue the government for damages because of actions that violated a person's state constitutional rights. The law covers state and local governments, commissions, agencies and branches of government funded with public money.

The Court's ruling came in a lawsuit brought in Santa Fe against the city of Roswell for alleged civil rights violations stemming from the fatal shooting of 20-year-old Nikolas de Jesus Acosta by Roswell police officers in 2023. He was shot outside his mother's home after police responded to a call that he had broken the windows of a car in the front yard of the house.

The city was sued in the First Judicial District Court by Acosta's mother, Maria de Lourdes Rodriguez; Amelia Ponce, Acosta's partner and mother of his child; and Kristina Martinez, the personal representative of the victim's estate for the wrongful death claim brought under the NMCRA.

The city unsuccessfully tried to dismiss the lawsuit on grounds that it should have been filed in Chaves County rather than in Santa Fe County. The city appealed the district court's ruling. The Supreme Court agreed with the city and ordered the dismissal of the lawsuit for improper venue.

Today's opinion provided the legal reasoning for the order issued earlier this year. Resolving the question of venue for NMCRA claims "will avoid duplicative litigation and preserve public funds and judicial resources," the Court wrote in the opinion by Chief Justice David K. Thomson. Several lawsuits under the NMCRA have been filed in Santa Fe against municipalities or counties located in other parts of the state.

The Court concluded that a state statute for the venue of civil lawsuits against municipalities and counties – Section 38-3-2 – governed the location where NMCRA claims must be brought against cities and counties.

The justices determined that a provision of the civil rights law "establishes jurisdiction in New Mexico district courts over claims brought under the NMCRA and is not a venue provision." That provision – Section 41-4A-3(B) – states that plaintiffs "may maintain an action to establish liability and recover actual damages and equitable or injunctive relief in any New Mexico district court."

The Court explained that Section 41-4A-3(B) "is consistent with statutes that create a statutory cause of action and vest jurisdiction in the district courts," but it lacked the features of venue provisions in state law.

"Unlike our state's myriad venue provisions, the phrase 'may maintain an action … in any New Mexico district court' in Section 41-4A-3(B) does not specify one or more counties where venue is proper for an NMCRA claim. Nor does the statute reference venue explicitly or identify where an NMCRA claim may be initiated, whether brought, instituted, commenced, or filed," the Court wrote. "Rather, Section 41-4A-3(B) provides that an NMCRA claim may be maintained in any district court, a verb that describes continuing with or participating in an action, rather than initiating one."

"The difference between initiating and maintaining an action is not merely semantic," the Court stated. "At least three venue provisions use institute to prescribe where the action may be initiated and maintain to clarify whether the action may be pursued at all."

 The Court concluded, "Absent a specific venue provision in the NMCRA, Section 38-3-2 governs venue in all civil actions brought against a municipality or board of county commissioners, including actions under the NMCRA. Nothing in the NMCRA suggests the Legislature intended Section 41-4A-3(B) to be a venue provision, let alone a venue provision that supersedes Section 38-3-2."