Bartlett v. Mirabal

2000 NMCA 036, 999 P.2d 1062, 128 N.M. 830
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 20, 2000
Docket19,929
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 2000 NMCA 036 (Bartlett v. Mirabal) 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
Bartlett v. Mirabal, 2000 NMCA 036, 999 P.2d 1062, 128 N.M. 830 (N.M. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

OPINION

APODACA, Judge.

{1} This interlocutory appeal arises from a will contest. Petitioner Gia May Bartlett filed the will of Silvestre Mirabal (Decedent) for formal probate. Decedent’s sister, Respondent Maria R. Mirabal (Contestant), challenged the will on various grounds. Petitioner moved for summary judgment. At the hearing on the motion, Contestant abandoned all grounds for contesting the will except her claim of undue influence. The trial court denied the motion. On appeal, Petitioner argues that the evidentiary standard of proof by clear and convincing evidence should have been applied by the trial court in determining whether genuine issues of material fact existed on the issue of undue influence. The basis for Petitioner’s argument is that, because Contestant was ultimately required to prove undue influence by clear and convincing evidence at trial, the determination of whether there were disputed material facts in the summary judgment proceeding should have been governed by the same substantive evidentiary standards that applied to the case on the merits. We disagree and affirm.

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} In response to Petitioner’s motion for summary judgment, Contestant presented evidence intended to show that Petitioner had a confidential relationship with Decedent and that suspicious circumstances surrounded the execution of his last two wills. Both of these wills gave his entire estate to Petitioner. According to Contestant, the suspicious circumstances included (1) the unnatural and unjust distribution of the estate, (2) lack of consideration for the transfer or undue profit by Petitioner, (3) Petitioner’s participation in the procurement of the will, (4) Decedent’s age and frail health, (5) Decedent’s susceptibility to undue influence, (6) Petitioner’s isolation of Decedent from his family, and (7) abuse of a confidential relationship.

{3} In granting the interlocutory appeal and denying summary judgment, the trial court’s order specifically provided:

If the burden of proof at summary judgment proceedings were in fact “clear and convincing evidence”, as held by the United States Supreme Court in Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986), and further suggested by Justice Ransom in Eoff v. Forrest, 109 N.M. 695, 789 P.2d 1262 (1990), the Court would have granted [Petitioner’s] Motion for Summary Judgment and dismissed the case.

Implicit in the order’s language is that, for purposes of deciding the existence of genuine issues of material fact at the summary judgment stage, the trial court used the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, even though the burden of proof on the issue of undue influence at trial would have been under a clear-and-convincing standard.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Standard of Review

{4} An appeal from the grant or denial of a motion for summary judgment presents a question of law. We therefore review de novo the trial court’s denial of summary judgment. See Harrell v. Hayes, 1998-NMCA-122, ¶ 11, 125 N.M. 814, 965 P.2d 933.

B. The Evidentiary Standard in Summary Judgment Proceedings

1. Petitioner’s Contentions Generally

{5} Petitioner essentially argues that New Mexico has already adopted the United States Supreme Court’s rationale in Anderson. Anderson, of course, applied only to the federal standard for summary judgment. See Fed.R.Civ.P. 56. It is exclusively the province of the state judiciary in New Mexico to decide the standard for our state rules on summary judgment. See Rule 1-056 NMRA 2000. It is the state’s prerogative to follow or not to follow Anderson. If Petitioner is correct that New Mexico has already adopted Anderson for our state rule, then the trial court should have applied the standard of clear and convincing evidence, the burden of proof at trial, in considering her motion for summary judgment. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 254, 106 S.Ct. 2505 (“When determining if a genuine factual issue ... exists ... a trial judge must bear in mind the actual quantum and quality of proof necessary to support liability....”).

{6} As additional support for her argument, Petitioner analogizes a motion for summary judgment to a motion for a directed verdict, insisting that the same evidentiary considerations apply to both. See id. (“Just as the ‘convincing clarity1 requirement is relevant in ruling on a motion for directed verdict, it is relevant in ruling on a motion for summary judgment.”); see also Melnick v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 106 N.M. 726, 727, 749 P.2d 1105, 1106 (1988) (considering cases on summary judgment and directed verdict in evaluating propriety of reconsideration of denial of motion for a directed verdict).

{7} Our Supreme Court, however, has clearly distinguished between summary judgment proceedings and motions for directed verdict. See Eoff, 109 N.M. at 701, 789 P.2d at 1268 (discussing the differences between summary judgment and directed verdict). The Court applied the traditional approach to summary judgment proceedings in which the nonmoving party need only show a genuine issue of material fact and need not present evidence sufficient to meet the burden at trial. Id. The Court determined that, when considering a summary judgment motion, it is not the trial court’s task to determine if all the elements will be met, only that “one or more factual issues” are in dispute. Id.

{8} Petitioner’s contentions require us to examine summary judgment proceedings in New Mexico. The sole question posed is whether Anderson has already been adopted in this state. Our examination of New Mexico cases involving summary judgment proceedings leads us to answer this question in the negative.

{9} In his special concurrence, Judge Alarid relies on six New Mexico cases he maintains support his contention that our courts have made “a significant move towards adoption” of the Anderson standard in summary judgment proceedings. The first two cases, Blauwkamp v. University of New Mexico Hosp., 114 N.M. 228, 836 P.2d 1249 (Ct.App.1992), and Furgason v. Clausen, 109 N.M. 331, 785 P.2d 242 (Ct.App.1989), are inapposite.

{10} Blauwkamp involved a medical malpractice ease in which plaintiff would not be able to “establish an essential element of [plaintiffs] claim” without an expert witness. Blauwkamp, 114 N.M. at 232, 836 P.2d at 1253 (quoting Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 477 U.S. 317, 331, 106 S.Ct. 2548, 91 L.Ed.2d 265 (1986)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2000 NMCA 036, 999 P.2d 1062, 128 N.M. 830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bartlett-v-mirabal-nmctapp-2000.