Rayos v. State Ex Rel. New Mexico Department of Corrections, Adult Probation & Parole Division

2014 NMCA 103, 336 P.3d 428, 6 N.M. 759
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 2014
Docket34,855; Docket 32,911
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2014 NMCA 103 (Rayos v. State Ex Rel. New Mexico Department of Corrections, Adult Probation & Parole Division) 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
Rayos v. State Ex Rel. New Mexico Department of Corrections, Adult Probation & Parole Division, 2014 NMCA 103, 336 P.3d 428, 6 N.M. 759 (N.M. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

OPINION

VANZI, Judge.

{1} Plaintiff appeals the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Defendants, the New Mexico Department of Corrections, Adult Probation and Parole Division (APPD); probation and parole officers, Riley Loomis and John Does I and II; and probation and parole officer and supervisor, Elizabeth Queener (collectively, APPD Defendants). The sole issue presented is whether APPD officers are now considered “law enforcement officers” as that term is defined in the New Mexico Tort Claims Act (the TCA), NMSA 1978, §§ 41-4-1 to -30 (1976, as amended through 2013), for purposes of the TCA’s waiver of immunity for certain conduct of law enforcement officers. In its order granting APPD Defendants’ motion, the district court stated that it was bound by this Court’s holding in Vigil v. Martinez, 1992-NMCA-033, ¶ 20, 113 N.M. 714, 832 P.2d 405, that probation and parole officers and their supervisors are not “law enforcement officers” for the purposes of the TCA and dismissed APPD Defendants from the case. Because there is no sufficient legal or factual basis to depart from our holding in Vigil, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

{2} Plaintiff is the natural parent and next friend of C.H., her minor daughter. Kenneth Mills is a convicted sex offender with a sixteen-year history of violent crimes. Mills was under the supervision of APPD Defendants from 2004 through 2008, during which time he violated the terms of his probation numerous times by committing new crimes and violating the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), NMSA 1978, §§ 29-11A-1 to -10 (1995, as amended through 2013), allegedly with little to no consequence. In August 2008, Mills kidnapped C.H. in the middle of the night and repeatedly raped her, leaving C.H. to suffer permanent physical and emotional harm.

{3} What Mills did to C.H. should never have happened. In violation of his conditions of probation, Mills was able to be near Plaintiffs home where he had access to C.H. and where he had the opportunity to kidnap and repeatedly rape her. Plaintiff sued APPD Defendants individually and in their official capacities, alleging that, during the four years leading up to the kidnapping and assault, APPD Defendants failed “to properly monitor and supervise Mills,... enforce the conditions of his probation, . . . report his probation violations to the [cjourt, . . . place him on strict probation, . . . place him on GPS or electronic monitoring, . . . maintain personal contact with him, . . . seek and obtain the revocation of his probation, . . . [and] arrest him or cause him to be arrested,” and that they “knowingly recommend[ed] Mills for an early unsatisfactory discharge, despite and even because of Mills’ history of serious probation violations and his violent criminal history.” Plaintiff also alleged that APPD was liable for the negligence of its employees under the doctrine of respondeat superior. In addition, Plaintiff sued the Curry County Board of County Commissioners, the sheriff of Curry County, and other employees of Curry County, individually and in their official capacities, for failing to comply with their duties to investigate, track, report, and register Mills pursuant to SORNA.

{4} The district court allowed limited discovery and briefing on the defendants’ claims for immunity under the TCA and deferred the other case deadlines. APPD Defendants subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment, asserting that because they are not “law enforcement officers” under the TCA, they are immune from suit. The district court granted that motion and entered final judgment dismissing with prejudice all of Plaintiffs claims against APPD Defendants. Plaintiff timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

Standard of Review

{5} Statutory interpretation is a question of law that we review de novo. Am. Fed’n of State, Cnty. & Mun. Emps., Council 18 v. City of Albuquerque, 2013-NMCA-012, ¶ 6, 293 P.3d 943, cert. quashed, 2013-NMCERT-008, 309 P.3d 101. “In construing a statute, our charge is to determine and give effect to the Legislature’s intent.” Marbob Energy Corp. v. N.M. Oil Conservation Comm'n, 2009-NMSC-013, ¶ 9, 146 N.M. 24, 206 P.3d 135. We also review de novo the grant of summary judgment. Romero v. Philip Morris Inc., 2010-NMSC-035, ¶ 7, 148 N.M. 713, 242 P.3d 280. Summary judgment is appropriate where “there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Rule 1-056(C) NMRA; Self v. United Parcel Serv., Inc., 1998-NMSC-046, ¶ 6, 126 N.M. 396, 970 P.2d 582.

The TCA’s Waiver of Immunity for Law Enforcement Officers

{6} Our Legislature enacted the TCA in order to provide a mechanism to “compensate those injured by the negligence of public employees and to impose duties of reasonable care[,]” while at the same time limiting “governmental liability so that government should not have the duty to do everything that might be done.” Cobos v. Doña Ana Cnty. Hous. Auth., 1998-NMSC-049, ¶ 6, 126 N.M. 418, 970 P.2d 1143 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). The TCA achieves this purpose by providing immunity from tort liability for governmental entities and public employees acting within the scope of their duties, except as that immunity is waived, as relevant here, by Sections 41-4-5 to -12. See § 41-4-4(A); Armijo v. Dep't of Health & Env’t, 1989-NMCA-043, ¶ 4, 108 N.M. 616, 775 P.2d 1333.

{7} This case focuses on Section 41-4-12 of the TCA, which waives immunity for specified intentional torts, violation of property rights, or deprivation of constitutional rights “caused by law enforcement officers while acting within the scope of their duties.” We have previously held that this waiver applies where a “law enforcement officer’s negligence . . . cause[s] a third party to commit one of the specified intentional torts.” Lessen v. City of Albuquerque, 2008-NMCA-085, ¶ 39, 144 N.M. 314, 187 P.3d 179. The parties do not argue, and we need not reach, the question of whether APPD Defendants were acting within the scope of their duties or whether the crimes Mills committed meet the definition of any of the specified intentional torts because we hold that, under Vigil, APPD Defendants are not “law enforcement officers” within the meaning of the TCA.

{8} The crux of the issue is the definition of the term “law enforcement officer.” The TCA defines a “law enforcement officer” as

a full-time salaried public employee of a governmental entity, or a certified part-time salaried police officer employed by a governmental entity, whose principal duties under law are to hold in custody any person accused of a criminal offense, to maintain public order or to make arrests for crimes[.]

Section 41-4-3(D). “Our courts have construed this definition strictly.” Loya v. Gutierrez, 2014-NMCA-028, ¶ 11, 319 P.3d 656, cert. granted, 2014-NMCERT-002, 322 P.3d 1063. Significantly, the statutory provision directs us to determine a public employee’s “principal duties under law.” Section 41-4-3(D) (emphasis added). However, not all duties of public employees are enumerated in a statute or regulation.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 NMCA 103, 336 P.3d 428, 6 N.M. 759, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rayos-v-state-ex-rel-new-mexico-department-of-corrections-adult-nmctapp-2014.