Gutierrez v. West Las Vegas School District

2002 NMCA 068, 48 P.3d 761, 132 N.M. 372
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 2002
DocketNo. 22,386
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2002 NMCA 068 (Gutierrez v. West Las Vegas School District) 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
Gutierrez v. West Las Vegas School District, 2002 NMCA 068, 48 P.3d 761, 132 N.M. 372 (N.M. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} This appeal tests the scope of the waiver of governmental immunity for alleged negligence in operating public premises under NMSA 1978, § 41-4-6 (1977) of the Tort Claims Act, NMSA 1978, § 41-4-1 to -29 (1976, as amended through 2001) (TCA). Samuel Gutierrez (Samuel), a student at West Las Vegas Middle School, was injured while he and fellow band students participated in a multi-school Mariachi event sponsored by the University of New Mexico (UNM) at the Albuquerque High School (AHS) auditorium.

{2} Geraldine Gutierrez, Samuel’s mother, claims the West Las Vegas School District (the District) is liable in negligence under the TCA because one of its teachers left the students unsupervised with music stands, allowing a dangerous condition that resulted in injury. She asserts waiver of TCA immunity, arguing that the District operated the AHS auditorium jointly with other schools, as contemplated by Section 41-4-4(1) and (J). The trial court granted the District’s motion to dismiss under Rule 1-012(B)(6) NMRA 2002.

{3} We affirm the district court based on our view that under Section 41-4-6, even assuming teacher negligence, the District was not operating the AHS property. Therefore the District shares no liability under the TCA and we need not address the issue whether the teacher’s temporary absence from the AHS auditorium was negligent.

BACKGROUND

{4} The West Las Vegas Middle School Mariachi Paisanos (the Band) attended a Mariachi event conducted, supervised, and controlled by UNM in the AHS auditorium. The Band’s teacher, Martin Sena, arranged the trip and had the responsibility of supervising the Band during the overnight excursion. At Sena’s request, four or five parent-chaperons accompanied the Band. In the 350-seat auditorium, with other school bands, the Band awaited the start of the official program. Sena left the auditorium to engage in other administrative tasks related to the event, leaving the Band with the parent-chaperons. Because the auditorium was barely large enough to hold the participants, the parent-chaperons were excluded from the auditorium by event staff, leaving student participants unsupervised, except for four or five event workers.

{5} No provision had been made for the students to check their music stands. Samuel was injured when he and other male members of the Band began to hit each other as they played one of their usual games. One boy, while holding a folded music stand, jerked his arm out of the way of getting hit by another boy, and in doing so, stabbed Samuel’s eye with one of the stand’s pointed ends.

{6} Among other things, Gutierrez claims that Sena had a statutory duty to supervise the Band pursuant to NMSA 1978, § 22-10-5(D) (1975), and that the District, along with UNM and AHS, jointly operated the AHS property pursuant to Section 41-4-4(1) and (J). The trial court dismissed the first amended complaint with prejudice. Gutierrez appeals.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

{7} In reviewing a dismissal under Rule 1-012(B)(6), “[we assume] the truth of the facts alleged in the complaint. A motion to dismiss should be granted only if it appears that upon no facts provable under the complaint could the plaintiff recover or be entitled to relief.” Castillo v. County of Santa Fe, 107 N.M. 204, 205-06, 755 P.2d 48, 49-50 (1988) (citation and emphasis omitted).

Gutierrez’s Argument on Waiver of Governmental Immunity

{8} Gutierrez invokes the premises liability waiver in Section 41^4-6:

The immunity granted pursuant to [the TCA] does not apply to liability for damages resulting from bodily injury, wrongful death or property damage caused by the negligence of public employees while acting within the scope of their duties in the operation or maintenance of any building, public park, machinery, equipment or furnishings. Nothing in this section shall be construed as granting waiver of immunity for any damages arising out of the operation or maintenance of works used for diversion or storage of water.

{9} She asserts the District may be sued for the failure of its public employees to perform duties even if the building involved is that of another school. See § 41-4-3(G) (defining scope of duties to mean performance of “any duties that a public employee is requested, required or authorized to perform ... regardless of the time and place of performance”); Cobos v. Doña Ana County Hous. Auth., 1998-NMSC-049, ¶ 8, 126 N.M. 418, 970 P.2d 1143. Gutierrez cites a statutory duty imposed on teachers to “exercise supervision over students on property belonging to the public school or state agency and while the students are under the control of the public school or state agency.” § 22-10-5(D). Accordingly, Gutierrez argues that the District had a duty to supervise the Band on the AHS property.

{10} With this foundation, Gutierrez cites two TCA provisions relating to jointly operated public schools to show that the District participated in the operation of the AHS property, implicating Section 41-4-6. The first provision, Section 41-4-4(1), reads:

A jointly operated public school, community center or athletic facility that is used or maintained pursuant to a joint powers agreement shall be deemed to be used or maintained by a single governmental entity for the purposes of and subject to the maximum liability provisions of Section 41-4-19 NMSA 1978.

The second provision, Section 41-4-4(J), reads:

a ‘jointly operated public school, community center or athletic facility’ includes a school, school yard, school ground, school building, gymnasium ... that is owned or leased by a governmental entity and operated or used jointly or in conjunction with another governmental entity for operations, events or programs that include sports or athletic events or activities, childcare or youth programs, after-school or before-school activities or summer or vacation programs at the facility.

{11} Gutierrez argues that subsection (J) includes the Mariachi event, which she states was “jointly operated” by a number of schools. “Operated,” she states, as used in subsection (J), means the same as “operation” as used in Section 41-4-6. Construing Section 414-4 in the context of Section 41-4-6 in this way, Gutierrez argues that all schools jointly attending and using the AHS property for the event are subject to suit, because the AHS property is a subseetion-(J) school building “owned or leased by a governmental entity ... for operations, events or programs.” § 41-44(J). Any other construction of subsections (I) and (J) of Section 4144, Gutierrez contends, would render them “completely unnecessary” and a “nullity.” Gutierrez thus concludes that Section 414-6 permits her action because the District failed “to exercise reasonable care to prevent or correct dangerous conditions” on the AHS property. Williams v. Cent. Consol. Sch. Dist, 1998-NMCA-006, ¶ 10, 124 N.M. 488, 952 P.2d 978.

{12} In sum, Gutierrez asserts the District performed activities covered by Sections 22-10-5(D) and 4144(1) and (J), constituting a TCA waiver of immunity under Section 414-6.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2002 NMCA 068, 48 P.3d 761, 132 N.M. 372, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gutierrez-v-west-las-vegas-school-district-nmctapp-2002.