Lowrey v. Castillo

CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 29, 2024
StatusUnpublished

This text of Lowrey v. Castillo (Lowrey v. Castillo) 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
Lowrey v. Castillo, (N.M. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

The slip opinion is the first version of an opinion released by the Clerk of the Court of Appeals. Once an opinion is selected for publication by the Court, it is assigned a vendor-neutral citation by the Clerk of the Court for compliance with Rule 23-112 NMRA, authenticated and formally published. The slip opinion may contain deviations from the formal authenticated opinion.

1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

2 Opinion Number: _____________

3 Filing Date: January 29, 2024

4 No. A-1-CA-40083

5 JARROD LOWREY,

6 Plaintiff-Appellant,

7 v.

8 SINFY CASTILLO and JAVIER 9 ARGUETA,

10 Defendants-Appellees.

11 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF BERNALILLO COUNTY 12 Nancy J. Franchini, District Court Judge

13 Jarrod Lowrey 14 Rio Rancho, NM

15 Pro Se Appellant

16 Jackson Loman Stanford Downey & Stevens-Block, P.C. 17 Eric Loman 18 Albuquerque, NM

19 for Appellees 1 OPINION

2 WRAY, Judge.

3 {1} Plaintiff Jarrod Lowrey appeals pro se the district court’s dismissal of the

4 complaint brought against Defendants Sinfy Castillo, a probation officer, and Javier

5 Argueta, Defendant Castillo’s supervisor (collectively, Defendants), both employed

6 by the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court (the Metro court). The complaint

7 asserted unspecified causes of action relating to Defendants’ alleged misconduct in

8 the supervision of a participant in a domestic violence early intervention program

9 (EIP Participant), which is a Metro court treatment program. Defendants moved to

10 dismiss Plaintiff’s complaint based on Rule 1-012(B)(6) NMRA. The district court

11 granted the motion and determined in part that Defendants were protected by quasi-

12 judicial immunity. We conclude that the alleged misconduct arose from Defendants’

13 activities that were performed as an arm of the Metro court and their services

14 supervising the Metro court treatment program participants were integral to the

15 judicial process; quasi-judicial immunity permits Defendants to perform that judicial

16 function without fear of civil liability and sufficient procedural safeguards protect

17 against potential misconduct; and Defendants acted within the scope of their quasi-

18 judicial function. We therefore affirm. 1 BACKGROUND

2 {2} Plaintiff’s complaint asserts the following. EIP Participant had been arrested

3 for twice violating a domestic violence restraining order and agreed to participate in

4 a preprosecution diversionary domestic violence early intervention program (the

5 EIP) run by the Metro court. As part of the EIP, EIP Participant entered into two EIP

6 agreements (EIP Agreements), which contemplated supervision by a probation

7 officer and imposed a series of conditions. The conditions required EIP Participant

8 to (1) report to the probation officer weekly or “as often as the probation officer may

9 require”; (2) notify the probation officer of any change in address, employment, or

10 school status; (3) inform the probation officer of any missed counseling sessions or

11 treatment and explain any absences; (4) submit to drug and alcohol testing upon the

12 probation officer’s request; and (5) be truthful with the probation officer, the EIP

13 judge, and any counselor. Defendant Castillo was the probation officer who

14 supervised EIP Participant’s compliance with the EIP Agreements and the Metro

15 court’s conditions of release, and Defendant Argueta was Defendant Castillo’s

16 supervisor.

17 {3} Plaintiff’s primary allegation is that Defendants’ failure to supervise EIP

18 Participant put Plaintiff, his minor son, other children, and the community at risk.

19 EIP Participant was living with Plaintiff’s ex-wife and her children, including

20 Plaintiff’s son. Concerned that EIP Participant was using drugs in the home while

2 1 living with the children, Plaintiff investigated EIP Participant and discovered that he

2 was subject to the EIP Agreements and Defendants’ supervision. Plaintiff initially

3 contacted Defendants to report violations of the EIP Agreements, which included

4 the failure to notify the probation officer of a change of address, drug use, and

5 contact with an assault victim. Specifically, Plaintiff reached out to Defendant

6 Castillo “to see if she could assist . . . in removing [EIP Participant] from [Plaintiff’s]

7 son’s house.” Defendant Castillo stated that “there was nothing she could do to get

8 [EIP Participant] away from [Plaintiff’s] son” but did instruct EIP Participant to

9 submit to a drug test, filed an EIP probation violation report, and participated in the

10 EIP probation violation hearing.

11 {4} Plaintiff subsequently reported to Defendants additional violations by EIP

12 Participant, which included arrests, failure to appear in court, failure to obtain or

13 continue employment, perjury, and failure to submit to drug tests. Defendants

14 requested that Plaintiff prepare an affidavit detailing the information, and Plaintiff

15 complied. Thereafter, Defendants filed additional EIP probation violation reports

16 and affidavits, participated in the hearings, recommended that the Metro court

17 impose community service as sanctions, and required EIP Participant to submit to

18 additional drug tests. The Metro court ordered EIP Participant to perform community

19 service. Nevertheless, Plaintiff had an additional meeting with Defendants to

3 1 articulate his continued frustration with their supervision and his view that

2 Defendants had misrepresented and minimized his reports to the Metro court judge.

3 {5} In Plaintiff’s words, Defendants “dismissed” Plaintiff’s concerns. Thereafter,

4 Plaintiff filed a civil complaint against Defendants in district court and alleged that

5 Defendant Castillo failed to (1) check more frequently on EIP Participant’s “living

6 situation” and criminal records; (2) require more frequent drug testing; and (3) report

7 accurately to the Metro court the information that Plaintiff had provided about EIP

8 Participant’s potential probation violations. Plaintiff alleged that Defendants created

9 a dangerous situation for the community, himself, his son, and other children by

10 enabling EIP Participant’s “drug problems to persist” and “completely fail[ing] to

11 rehabilitate” him. Defendants moved to dismiss the complaint and argued, in

12 relevant part, that Defendants were an arm of the court and entitled to absolute

13 immunity from civil suit. The district court granted Defendants’ motion and

14 dismissed the complaint. Plaintiff appeals.

15 DISCUSSION

16 {6} Plaintiff first argues that the district court did not properly apply the

17 “functional approach” to determine whether Defendants were entitled to quasi-

18 judicial immunity and as a result, improperly dismissed the complaint, which leaves

19 no redress for the constitutional harm that Defendants’ alleged misconduct has

20 caused to Plaintiff, Plaintiff’s son, other children, and the community. Plaintiff’s

4 1 second argument—that immunity results in the lack of redress of harm—challenges

2 the long-standing policy-based decision by our courts to afford immunity to some

3 actors under some circumstances. See Collins ex rel. Collins v. Tabet, 1991-NMSC-

4 013, ¶¶ 18-19, 26, 111 N.M. 391, 806 P.2d 40

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Related

Hunnicutt v. Sewell
2009 NMCA 121 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2009)
Collins on Behalf of Collins v. Tabet
806 P.2d 40 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1991)
Kimbrell v. Kimbrell
2014 NMSC 027 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 2014)

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Lowrey v. Castillo, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lowrey-v-castillo-nmctapp-2024.