Bounds v. Hamlett

2011 NMCA 078, 258 P.3d 1181, 150 N.M. 389
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 2011
Docket29,412
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2011 NMCA 078 (Bounds v. Hamlett) 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
Bounds v. Hamlett, 2011 NMCA 078, 258 P.3d 1181, 150 N.M. 389 (N.M. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

OPINION

WECHSLER, Judge.

{1} This appeal involves an election contest between two competing boards of commissioners of the San Lorenzo Community Ditch Association (the Association). As relevant to the appeal, Plaintiff Horace L. Bounds, Jr., along with Wigwam Ranch, LLC (Wigwam Ranch), and Boots & Spurs, LLC (Boots & Spurs), sought a declaratory judgment that they were duly elected commissioners at a December 3, 2007 election of the Association and that Defendants Ray Hamlett, Nanci Kelleher, and Norm Wheeler, elected at a January 4, 2008 meeting, were not commissioners entitled to act on behalf of the Association.

{2} The district court held that neither group of commissioners was duly elected. In doing so, it concluded that a “hybrid” form of voting in an acequia election in which voting may be based on either water rights or ditch rights was contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 73-2-14 (1921), and the New Mexico Supreme Court’s holding in Wilson v. Denver, 1998-NMSC-016, 125 N.M. 308, 961 P.2d 153. It further concluded that a 1982 stipulated judgment between Plaintiff and the Association was not lawful because the stipulated judgment attempted to create a hybrid voting scheme and does not comply with the alternatives allowed by statute. It ordered the Association to hold a new election, allowing members to vote either by casting one vote per member, reflecting the tenancy in common in the ditch, or by voting in proportion to the member’s water rights on the ditch. Plaintiff appeals.

{3} We hold that the district court correctly held that the 1982 stipulated judgment was not lawful and that the bylaws controlling the December 2007 election were improperly based on the 1982 stipulated judgment that created a hybrid form of voting rights that was contrary to both Section 73-2-14 and Wilson. We do not address the district court’s actions concerning the January 4, 2008 election and the special election because they are not before us in this appeal. We affirm.

BACKGROUND

{4} The Association is a community acequia association organized under NMSA 1978, Sections 73-2-1 to -68 (1874, as amended through 2006). It adopted its first official set of bylaws in 1981, which provided that “[e]ach member will have the same number of votes as acres of land with water rights.” At that time, Plaintiff owned 203.8 acres of land with water rights and had “ditch rights” totaling 141 hours and 20 minutes, which he acquired from his predecessors in interest, his father, Horace L. Bounds, and Wigwam Ranch. Ditch rights are the amount of time during a water cycle that an individual water user may take water from the ditch.

{5} In 1982, Plaintiff filed a declaratory judgment action against the Association to clarify voting practices. He did not name any of the individual members of the Association as defendants. The case resulted in a stipulated judgment, confirming Plaintiffs ditch rights of 141 hours and 20 minutes, and stating his voting rights to be “in proportion to his interest in [the] ditch or in proportion to the number or amount of his water rights (203.8 acres), whichever is larger.”

{6} In 1989, the Association adopted a second set of bylaws that again provided that voting rights would be based on water rights. There is no evidence in the record of any objections to these bylaws. In 1999, Plaintiff transferred 46.17 of his 203.8 acres of water rights from the San Lorenzo Community Ditch to another location and, as a result, thereafter owned 157.63 acres of water rights on the ditch. After this transfer, the Association did not readjust any of its member’s ditch rights, including those of Plaintiff.

{7} In 2001, the Association held an election in which voting was based on water rights as required by the 1989 bylaws. At that time, Plaintiff, through his attorney, informed the board of commissioners of the 1982 stipulated judgment. The board indicated that, based on the 1982 stipulated judgment, it understood Plaintiff to “prefer ditch rights to water rights[,]” and “that all future dealings of the ... Association will be done by ditch rights.” In February 2002, the board of commissioners adopted new bylaws that based voting rights on ditch rights, a departure from all previously recorded bylaws. The change was prompted by communications from Plaintiff and his attorneys leading commissioners to believe that compliance with the 1982 stipulated judgment was required by law and to prevent litigation.

{8} On December 3, 2007, the Association held a meeting, called by Plaintiff, and conducted an election based on the 2002 bylaws under which a member’s voting rights were in proportion to the member’s ditch rights. Plaintiff, Wigwam Ranch, LLC (represented by Jo Bounds), and Boots & Spurs, LLC (represented by Steve Bounds) were elected commissioners. Plaintiff was also elected mayordomo.

{9} On January 4, 2008, the Association held another meeting called by members who did not believe that the December 3, 2007 meeting was proper. Plaintiff did not attend. The members present conducted an election based on a recalculation of each member’s ditch rights or water rights, whichever provided the member the greater number of votes. Defendants Hamlett, Wheeler, and Kelleher were elected commissioners, and Defendant William Lee was elected mayordomo.

{10} Plaintiff, Wigwam Ranch, and Boots & Spurs filed this action for declaratory judgment in response to the January 4, 2008 election. After trial, the district court ruled that neither set of commissioners was duly elected and entitled to act on behalf of the Association. It held that both elections improperly employed hybrid voting systems contrary to Section 73-2-14 and Wilson and were therefore invalid. The district court further held that the 1982 stipulated judgment was not binding on the Association’s members. The district court ordered the Association to conduct a special election with voting based either by each member casting one vote reflecting the tenancy in common interest of the members of the ditch or by each member voting in proportion to the member’s water rights in the ditch.

{11} In Plaintiffs appeal of these rulings, he raises three issues: (1) whether the Association’s voting rights may be based disproportionally upon hours of ditch time because of the members’ agreement and the 1982 stipulated judgment; (2) whether the 1982 stipulated judgment is binding on the Association and its members; and (3) whether the district court improperly subjected the 1982 stipulated judgment to collateral attack. Each issue presents a question of law that we review de novo. See Jordan v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2010-NMSC-051, ¶14, 149 N.M. 162, 245 P.3d 1214 (holding that statutory interpretation is a question of law that is reviewed de novo); Roybal v. Lujan de la Fuente, 2009-NMCA-114, ¶23, 147 N.M. 193, 218 P.3d 879 (holding that the district court’s determination as to the preclusive effect of a judgment is reviewed de novo).

VOTING RIGHTS IN ASSOCIATION ELECTIONS

{12} Plaintiffs first argument on appeal asks this Court to overturn the district court because the district court did not properly recognize Plaintiffs voting rights in the Association’s December 3, 2007 and January 4, 2008 elections.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 NMCA 078, 258 P.3d 1181, 150 N.M. 389, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bounds-v-hamlett-nmctapp-2011.