Appellate Practice

Appellate Practice

• Reversed $700,000 of a $1 million punitive damage award for defamation, on the ground that the punitive damages were unconstitutionally excessive. Aken v. Plains Electric Generation & Transmission Cooperative, Inc., 2002-NMSC-021, 132 N.M. 401, 49 P.3d 662.
• Reversed a $250,000 award of punitive damages against an insurer under the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act, on the ground that punitive damages are not an available remedy under the Unfair Practices Act. McLelland v. United Wisconsin Life Insurance Co., 1999-NMCA-055, 127 N.M. 303, 980 P.2d 86.
• In related state and federal appeals involving a city and two competing water service providers, reversed summary judgment rulings by the lower courts that restricted the city’s ability to provide municipal water service to residents within its territory and to regulate a privately owned water company through a franchise. Moongate Water Co. v. City of Las Cruces, 2009-NMCA-117, 147 N.M. 260, 219 P.3d 517, and Dona Ana Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association v. City of Las Cruces, 516 F.3d 900 (10th Cir. 2008).
• Upheld a district court’s refusal to confirm an award for a labor union in an interest arbitration proceeding, on the ground that the arbitrator’s mediation-like process did not comply with a statutory requirement of binding final-offer arbitration. National Union of Hospital & Health Care Employees, Dist. No. 1199 v. Regents of University of New Mexico, 2010-NMCA-102, 149 N.M. 107, 245 P.3d 51.
• Upheld a defense summary judgment in a multiple wrongful death case on the ground that a property owner had no duty to the victims of a drive-by shooting. Romero v. Giant Stop-N-Go of New Mexico, Inc., 2009-NMCA-059, 146 N.M. 520, 212 P.3d 408.
• Upheld a wrongful death verdict against a hospital for the family of a law enforcement officer killed in a helicopter crash, based on the hospital’s negligent selection of a helicopter air ambulance service provider. Talbott v. Roswell Hospital Corp., 2008-NMCA-114, 144 N.M. 753, 192 P.3d 267.
• Obtained an emergency writ of mandamus against the New Mexico Secretary of State on the threshold of a national election, requiring the Secretary of State to comply with the statutory procedure for counting improperly marked paper ballots. State ex rel. League of Women Voters of New Mexico v. Herrera, 2009-NMSC-003, 145 N.M. 563, 203 P.3d 94.
• Upheld a defense verdict on a claim of infringement of a copyright in architectural drawings and related Lanham Act and state law violations. La Resolana Architects, PA v. Reno, Inc., 555 F.3d 1171 (10th Cir. 2009).
• Reversed a district court’s application of Texas law, rather than New Mexico’s law of comparative fault, to a tort claim asserted by Texas workers against a general contractor arising out of a construction accident in New Mexico. Terrazas v. Garland & Loman, Inc., 2006-NMCA-111, 140 N.M. 293, 142 P.3d 374.