Alto Eldorado Partnership v. Amrep Corp.

2005 NMCA 131, 124 P.3d 585, 138 N.M. 607
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 28, 2005
Docket23,515
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 2005 NMCA 131 (Alto Eldorado Partnership v. Amrep Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alto Eldorado Partnership v. Amrep Corp., 2005 NMCA 131, 124 P.3d 585, 138 N.M. 607 (N.M. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

OPINION

KENNEDY, Judge.

{1} We certified this case to our Supreme Court under NMSA 1978, § 34-5-14(C) (1972), as we believed that our differing views of jurisdiction required resolution. Following oral argument above, our Supreme Court quashed certification as improvidently granted and returned the case to this Court. But see id. (“Any certification by the court of appeals under this subsection is a final determination of appellate jurisdiction.”). We now enter our respective opinions as they were set forth in the order of certification.

{2} Defendant Amrep Corporation (Am-rep) brings this interlocutory appeal from the district court’s denial of Amrep’s motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. We must decide whether the district court has personal jurisdiction over Amrep. This inquiry presents the primary issue of whether alter ego is a viable theory for obtaining personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation in New Mexico, and if not, whether the district court could properly assert jurisdiction over Amrep. We hold that under these facts, an alter ego theory that uses substantive corporate law is not the test that New Mexico uses for personal jurisdiction. Instead, the test is one of constitutional perimeters. As Plaintiffs made a sufficient showing to satisfy the due process requirement of minimum contacts for jurisdiction over Am-rep, we affirm.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{3} On September 18, 1997, Plaintiffs filed a complaint against Eldorado Utilities, Inc. (EUI) for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, innocent misrepresentation, negligence, injunctive relief, and violation of the Unfair Trade Practices Act. Plaintiffs later dismissed their Unfair Trade Practices Act claim against EUI.

{4} EUI is a New Mexico incorporated public utility that has the “right and obligation” to provide water to its franchise area. Plaintiffs were landowners and developers in the EUI franchise area in Santa Fe County. Plaintiffs claimed that EUI committed itself to serve as a water utility for their real estate developments in its franchise area. According to Plaintiffs, Santa Fe County later determined that EUI was unable to do so, and prohibited any further developers from relying on EUI for their water. Santa Fe County subsequently imposed a moratorium on subdivision within EUI’s service area. Plaintiffs urged EUI to fight this decision; EUI would not. When Plaintiffs brought this matter before the Public Utility Commission (PUC), which is now the Public Regulation Commission, EUI refused to join in the proceedings, and was involuntarily joined by the PUC Hearing Officer. PUC staff recommended finding that EUI could not service Plaintiffs’ proposed developments. Plaintiffs further alleged that Santa Fe County imposed another ordinance in 1997 due to EUI’s inability to provide adequate water, which was extended in 1998 and 1999. In 1999, EUI informed its customers that it was at “Water Alert Stage 2,” and unable to “produce water under existing conditions at a sufficient rate to meet [the] consumption” of its customers. Essentially, Plaintiffs’ complaint alleged that EUI promised them something it could not provide: water. Now, Plaintiffs complain, they own land that they cannot develop as they had planned. Plaintiffs also asserted that EUI did not fight the ordinances because Amrep’s land development subsidiaries, including Eldorado at Santa Fe and Amrep Southwest, compete with Plaintiffs. EUI’s failure would help Amrep by hurting those competing with its land-development subsidiaries. As one of its own officers stated, Amrep is in the land business, not the utility business.

{5} EUI is a wholly owned subsidiary of Amrep. On March 29, 2000, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint naming Amrep as a defendant. The amended complaint also named Amrep Southwest, another wholly owned Amrep subsidiary, and Eldorado at Santa Fe, a subsidiary of Amrep Southwest. Both are incorporated in New Mexico. A diagram of Amrep’s corporate structure would look like:

[[Image here]]

{6} Amrep, an Oklahoma corporation, was served with the amended complaint in Oklahoma, and does not contest this service. However, on May 11, 2000, Amrep’s counsel, who also serves as EUI’s counsel, entered a special appearance to challenge the district court’s jurisdiction. Amrep then filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. The district court ordered discovery on the jurisdictional issue, and on June 13, 2002, Plaintiffs filed their response to Amrep’s motion. On August 30, 2002, Amrep filed its reply with an affidavit from Gary Sullivan, EUI’s treasurer. Amrep’s motion to dismiss was denied by the district court on September 23, 2002, and Amrep appealed. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

FACTS

{7} Most of the facts in this case are undisputed. Amrep is a holding company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Amrep essentially has two ventures: cable television and real estate. The real estate branch of Amrep owns the New Mexico Amrep subsidiaries listed above. In 1973, EUI, not its parent Amrep, applied to run a water utility in New Mexico. Minutes from a special meeting of EUI’s board in 1973 stated that EUI “was formed for the purpose of providing water utility service at El Dorado at Santa Fe.” EUI was created to facilitate the real estate interests or ventures of Am-rep. According to EUI’s president, who also serves as vice president for Amrep, when Amrep’s land subsidiaries no longer need EUI, Amrep will sell it. Specifically, Amrep is in the land business, not the utility business.

{8} PUC required that Amrep subsidize any of EUI’s operating shortfalls. The 1973 PUC order noted that “[a]s the revenues from the utility operation will be insufficient to maintain the utility in a ‘no-loss’ position for several years, the payments made by AMREP are the additional revenues needed to maintain the utility in a ‘no-loss’ financial position.” PUC ordered that “AMREP ... shall annually pay ... the amount required to maintain [EUI] in a ‘no-loss’ financial position until such a time as [EUI] becomes a self sustaining utility.” The final order approving this subsidization agreement found jurisdiction over the parties, but does not state who those parties were. In 1993, EUI asked PUC to end this requirement, since the subsidization requirement interfered with Amrep’s desire to sell EUI. The subsidization requirement ended in 1994. In its 1994 order, PUC stated that it had jurisdiction over EUI and “all the parties to [the] case,” and that EUI had become self-sustaining. However, from 1994 until 1999, Amrep gave EUI millions of dollars in what it called, “capital contributions.” EUI’s employee supervisor, James William McLean, stated that EUI never had any money. If EUI needed money, such as to drill a well, it looked to Amrep to pay for it.

{9} By 2001, EUI had an income of $1,300,000. In 2002, its assets alone were worth $8,500,000. EUI had 2700 customers, some employees, and contracts in its own name. Amrep referred to EUI as a subsidiary, and not as a department or division. EUI filed its own separate financial statement with PUC as part of that Commission’s requirements.

{10} Amrep officers were also officers for its New Mexico subsidiaries. James Wall served as the senior vice president for Am-rep and the president of Amrep’s New Mexican subsidiaries, including EUI.

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Alto Eldorado Partnership v. Amrep Corp.
2005 NMCA 131 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2005 NMCA 131, 124 P.3d 585, 138 N.M. 607, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alto-eldorado-partnership-v-amrep-corp-nmctapp-2005.