Coulston Foundation v. Madrid

2004 NMCA 060, 92 P.3d 679, 135 N.M. 667
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 16, 2004
DocketNo. 24,000
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 2004 NMCA 060 (Coulston Foundation v. Madrid) 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
Coulston Foundation v. Madrid, 2004 NMCA 060, 92 P.3d 679, 135 N.M. 667 (N.M. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

OPINION

VIGIL, Judge.

{1} The Attorney General (AG) issued a “civil investigative demand” (CID) to the Coulston Foundation (the Foundation) pursuant to the Charitable Solicitations Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 57-22-1 to -11 (1983, as amended through 1999) (the Act). The AG was conducting an investigation of the Foundations’s endowment system established for the care and well-being of chimpanzees, and issued the CID to obtain information and documents relevant to that investigation. The district court denied the Foundation’s petition to set aside the CID, and the Foundation appeals, contending: (1) its petition should have been granted because the AG did not file a responsive pleading; (2) because the Foundation did not solicit charitable funds and because it performed noneharitable research for the federal government, it is not subject to the AG’s investigatory powers under the Act; (3) the AG’s affidavit in support of the CID is insufficient, and the CID is therefore invalid; and (4) because federal law preempts the Act, the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to enforce the CID. In our notice of assignment to the general calendar, we requested that the parties also brief the issue of whether the district court’s order enforcing the CID is a final, appealable order.

{2} We determine that the order is a final, appealable order and affirm the district court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{3} The Foundation is a New Mexico nonprofit corporation which performs biomedical research on chimpanzees. The Foundation is exempt from federal income tax under Section 501(a) of the Internal Revenue Code, I.R.C. § 501(a) (1986), as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3), and it is registered as a “charitable organization” with the AG as required under the Act. See Section 57-22-3(A) (defining a “charitable organization” to be “any entity that has been granted exemption from the .federal income tax by the United States commissioner of internal revenue as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or identifies itself to the public as having a charitable purpose”); Section 57-22-6(A) (requiring every charitable organization “existing, operating or soliciting in the state, unless exempted,” to register with the AG). Registration with the AG is consistent with the purpose of the Act, which is “to authorize the attorney general to monitor, supervise and enforce the charitable purposes of charitable organizations and regulate professional fundraisers operating in this state.” Section 57-22-2.

{4} The Foundation implemented a “Chimpanzee Endowment Policy,” establishing an endowment system consisting of an irrevocable trust from which funds were used only for the permanent and long-term care of individual chimpanzees that were used in research.

{5} In April 2002, the AG’s Office received a complaint against the Foundation, alleging that the irrevocable trust funds were misspent, and the AG initiated an investigation pursuant to its authority under the Act. From May to August of 2002, the AG and the Foundation worked cooperatively in the investigation, until the Foundation refused to comply with the AG’s request for audited financial statements. In response, the AG issued a CID to obtain the information and requested documents. See Section 57-22-9.1(A) (permitting the AG to serve a civil investigative demand requiring the person to answer interrogatories or produce requested documentary material that may be “relevant to the subject matter of an investigation of a probable violation of the [Act]”).

{6} The Foundation filed a petition with the district court to set aside the CID pursuant to Section 57-22-9.1(G) (providing that upon filing of petition and showing of good cause, district court may set aside, modify, or extend return date of CID). After receiving pleadings and holding hearings on the matter, the district court entered its order enforcing the CID. The Foundation appeals.

FINAL, APPEALABLE ORDER

{7} This Court’s jurisdiction lies from final, appealable orders. Kelly Inn No. 102, Inc. v. Kapnison, 113 N.M. 231, 236, 824 P.2d 1033, 1038 (1992). An order is final if all issues of law and fact necessary to be determined have been determined and the case has been disposed of by the trial court to the fullest extent possible. Id. at 236, 238, 824 P.2d at 1040, 1042 (stating that “a question remaining to be decided thereafter will not prevent the judgment from being final if resolution of that question will not alter the judgment or moot or revise decisions embodied therein”); see also Trujillo v. Hilton of Santa Fe, 115 N.M. 397, 397, 851 P.2d 1064, 1064 (1993) (reiterating that an order is final if it determines the rights and liabilities of the parties to the underlying controversy).

{8} We agree that the order in this case is final because it practically disposes of all matters raised by the petition to set aside the CID. See Kelly Inn No. 102, Inc., 113 N.M. at 236, 824 P.2d at 1038. The AG’s authority to investigate possible violations of the Act, and in that capacity, to issue CIDs and its authority to enforce the Act are two separate powers and functions. See Section 57-22-9(A) (stating AG may examine and investigate any charitable organization to ascertain “conditions of its affairs and to what extent, if at all, it fails to comply with the trusts it has assumed or if it has departed from the purposes for which it was formed”); Section 57-22-9.1(A) (providing AG may, pri- or to initiating a civil proceeding, issue a CID to a person the AG has reason to believe has information or documents which AG believes to be relevant to the subject matter of an investigation of a probable violation of the Act); Section 57-22-9(A), (B), and (C) (giving AG authority to institute a proceeding to correct noncompliance or departure by a charitable organization from its trust or purposes for which it was formed; to seek injunctive relief, civil penalties, financial accounting or restitution from any person who has failed to comply with registration, filing or disclosure provisions of the Act; and to initiate proceedings to seek compliance with the Act). The Foundation initiated this proceeding by filing its petition which was resolved to its fullest extent by the district court order enforcing the CID. We therefore hold that it is a final and immediately appealable order. Cf. Wilson Corp. v. State ex rel. Udall, 1996-NMCA-049, ¶¶ 13-14, 121 N.M. 677, 916 P.2d 1344 (enforcing CIDs under the New Mexico Antitrust Act, not discussing finality but describing the district court action as summary, in which only initial matters are determined regarding the investigation and authority under the Act). Accordingly, we address the merits of the Foundation’s appeal below.

DISCUSSION

{9} The Foundation raises mostly legal questions and challenges to legal conclusions. The district court’s interpretation of a statute is a question of law which we review de novo. See Morgan Keegan Mortgage Co. v. Candelaria, 1998-NMCA-008, ¶ 5, 124 N.M. 405, 951 P.2d 1066.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Estate of Herrera
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2026
Katsch v. Ford Motor Credit Company
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2018
Shaver v. Board of Ethics & Campaign Practices
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2018
N.E.A. of N.M. v. Cent. Consol. Sch. Dist.
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2015
City of Albuquerque v. One Chevy S10
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2014
Tafoya v. Morrison
New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2013

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2004 NMCA 060, 92 P.3d 679, 135 N.M. 667, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coulston-foundation-v-madrid-nmctapp-2004.