Flowers v. Western Motors, Inc.

• Court: New Mexico Court of Appeals
• Decided: October 20, 2020
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

This decision of the New Mexico Court of Appeals was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports. Refer to Rule 12-405 NMRA for restrictions on the citation of unpublished decisions. Electronic decisions may contain computer- generated errors or other deviations from the official version filed by the Court of Appeals.

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

No. A-1-CA-38541

RAY FLOWERS, Deceased,

Worker-Appellee,

v.

WESTERN MOTORS, INC. and NEW MEXICO MUTUAL CASUALTY CO.,

Employer/Insurer-Appellants.

APPEAL FROM THE WORKERS’ COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATION Rachel A. Bayless, Workers’ Compensation Judge

Stout & Stout Lawyers LLP Drew Stout Mark Stout Hobbs, NM

for Appellee

Law Office of Nathan Cobb LLC Nathan A. Cobb Nathan D. Pederson Albuquerque, NM

for Appellants

MEMORANDUM OPINION

VARGAS, Judge.

{1} Western Motors, Inc., and New Mexico Mutual Casualty Co. (Employer/Insurer) appeal from the workers’ compensation judge’s (WCJ) order, entered October 7, 2019, concluding that Ray Flowers (Worker) was an independent contractor at the time he was injured and thus the Workers’ Compensation Act did not apply. This Court issued a notice of proposed disposition, proposing to affirm. Worker filed a memorandum in support of proposed summary affirmance. Employer/Insurer have not filed any memoranda in opposition to this Court’s calendar notice, and the time for doing so has now passed. “Failure to file a memorandum in opposition constitutes acceptance of the disposition proposed in the calendar notice.” Frick v. Veazey, 1993-NMCA-119, ¶ 2, 116 N.M. 246, 861 P.2d 287. Accordingly, for the reasons stated in our notice of proposed disposition and herein, we affirm the WCJ’s order.

{2} IT IS SO ORDERED.

JULIE J. VARGAS, Judge

WE CONCUR:

JENNIFER L. ATTREP, Judge

KRISTINA BOGARDUS, Judge