Marrujo v. NEW MEXICO HWY. TRANSP. DEPT.

887 P.2d 747, 118 N.M. 753
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 3, 1994
Docket21530
StatusPublished

This text of 887 P.2d 747 (Marrujo v. NEW MEXICO HWY. TRANSP. DEPT.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Marrujo v. NEW MEXICO HWY. TRANSP. DEPT., 887 P.2d 747, 118 N.M. 753 (N.M. 1994).

Opinion

887 P.2d 747 (1994)
118 N.M. 753

Jose M. MARRUJO, Sr., individually and as personal representative of the Estate of Glen Marrujo, Sr., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
NEW MEXICO STATE HIGHWAY TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 21530.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

November 3, 1994.

*749 Aarons Law Firm, P.C., Stephen D. Aarons, Santa Fe, for appellant.

Miller, Stratvert, Torgerson & Schlenker, P.A., Robert C. Gutierrez, Virginia Anderman, Albuquerque, for appellee.

Sive, Paget & Riesel, P.C., Steven Barshov, New York City, Judith A. Olean, Santa Fe, for amicus curiae N.M. Self Insurers Fund and N.M. Mun. League.

OPINION

FROST, Justice.

This case addresses the constitutionality of the New Mexico Notice of Claims Statute, *750 NMSA 1978, Section 41-4-16 (Repl. Pamp.1989), which requires those asserting a wrongful death claim against state or local public bodies to provide notice of the claim within six months of the injury.

The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the Notice of Claims Statute and dismissed the Plaintiffs' claim. We affirm.

I. FACTS

On November 9, 1988, a vehicle occupied by Glen Marrujo, Sr. (Marrujo) collided with another vehicle on a curved section of State Road 94 near Mora, New Mexico. Marrujo moved the car partly off the road and began to repair the left rear wheel. A third vehicle rounded the curve and struck Marrujo who died the next day.

Within a few days of the accident the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (Department) received two Uniform Accident Reports as well as several supplemental reports prepared by the State Police. Two years later on November 8, 1990—the final day of the statute of limitations for claims under the Tort Claims Act, NMSA 1978, Section 41-4-15 (Repl. Pamp.1989)—the family of Marrujo (Family) filed a wrongful death suit against the Department. The Family alleged that the Department negligently maintained the stretch of road where Marrujo was killed. Service was made on the Department on November 19, 1990. This was the first notice to the State that a claim was being made against the Department as a result of the accident.

The Department moved to dismiss, alleging that it had not received proper notice of the claim within six months after the accident as required by the New Mexico Notice of Claims Statute, Section 41-4-16(C). In reply, the Family alleged (among other concerns) that the Notice of Claims Statute violates the equal protection and due process provisions of the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution. The trial court granted summary judgment to the Department because the Family had not satisfied the requirements of the Notice of Claims Statute.

The parties ask this Court to address four issues: (1) whether the constitutionality of the Notice of Claims Statute should be evaluated under a heightened scrutiny or rational basis standard of review; (2) whether this statute is unconstitutional on due process and equal protection grounds; (3) whether the Uniform Accident Reports filed with the Department constituted actual notice of the Family's wrongful death claim; and (4) whether further discovery by the Family would expose issues of material fact which would render summary judgment premature.

An amicus brief was filed in this Court by the New Mexico Municipal League and the New Mexico Self Insurers Fund. Upon review of the certification order by the Court of Appeals, the briefs, and the record, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment.

II. STATUTE IN QUESTION

The Family challenges the constitutionality of Section 41-4-16(C) of the Tort Claims Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 41-4-1 to -29 (Repl. Pamp.1989 & Cum.Supp.1994), which requires that a notice of claim against the state for wrongful death be filed "within six months after the date of the occurrence of the injury which resulted in the death." They contrast this statute with the Wrongful Death Act which requires that claims against a private party who causes the wrongful death of another "be brought within three years after the cause of action accrues" where "[t]he cause of action accrues as of the date of death." NMSA 1978, § 41-2-2 (Repl. Pamp.1989). They claim the disparity between these two statutes violates their equal protection and due process rights under the Federal Constitution. The Family wants us to evaluate the constitutionality of this notice provision using a heightened scrutiny standard while the Department urges us to use a rational basis standard.

III. THE HEIGHTENED SCRUTINY VERSUS THE RATIONAL BASIS STANDARD OF REVIEW

When dealing with a facial constitutional challenge of a statute, the legislation "enjoys a presumption of constitutionality." *751 Wood v. United States (In re Wood), 866 F.2d 1367, 1370 (11th Cir.1989) (citing Usery v. Turner Elkhorn Mining Co., 428 U.S. 1, 15, 96 S.Ct. 2882, 2892, 49 L.Ed.2d 752 (1976)); see also Espanola Hous. Auth. v. Atencio, 90 N.M. 787, 788-89, 568 P.2d 1233, 1234-35 (1977). In evaluating a due process or equal protection claim under the Federal or State constitutions, the Court will apply one of three standards of review: strict scrutiny; intermediate scrutiny (also known as substantial, heightened, or high review); and minimal scrutiny (also known as the rational basis test). The same standards of review are used in analyzing both due process and equal protection guarantees. Due process, however, focuses on the validity of legislation as it equally burdens all persons in the exercise of a specific right. Equal protection, on the other hand, focuses on the validity of legislation that permits some individuals to exercise a specific right while denying it to others. John E. Nowak et al., Constitutional Law 423 (1983). We first must decide what interest is involved or to whom the interest belongs. This will determine the appropriate standard of review.

Strict scrutiny applies when the violated interest is a fundamental personal right or civil liberty—such as first amendment rights, freedom of association, voting, interstate travel, privacy, and fairness in the deprivation of life, liberty or property— which the Constitution explicitly or implicitly guarantees. Nowak et al., supra, at 418 & n. 3, 460-61 (1983); see Laurence H. Tribe, American Constitutional Law § 16-7, at 1454 (2d ed. 1988). Strict scrutiny also applies under an equal protection analysis if the statute focuses upon inherently suspect classifications such as race, national origin, religion, or status as a resident alien. Nowak et al., supra, at 448-49; Tribe, supra, § 16-13, at 1465-66; Garcia v. Albuquerque Pub. Schs. Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 391, 393, 622 P.2d 699, 701 (Ct.App.1980) (citing City of New Orleans v. Dukes, 427 U.S. 297, 303, 96 S.Ct. 2513, 2516-17, 49 L.Ed.2d 511 (1976)), writ quashed, 95 N.M. 426, 622 P.2d 1046 (1981).

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