Rivera v. Trujillo

1999 NMCA 129, 990 P.2d 219, 128 N.M. 106
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 28, 1999
Docket19,403
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 1999 NMCA 129 (Rivera v. Trujillo) 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
Rivera v. Trujillo, 1999 NMCA 129, 990 P.2d 219, 128 N.M. 106 (N.M. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

OPINION

ARMIJO, Judge.

{1} In this personal injury case, Plaintiffs appeal the district court’s grant of Defendants’ motion for summary judgment. Plaintiffs argue that summary judgment was inappropriate due to the existence of a genuine dispute of material fact. They also challenge the district court’s exclusion of an accident report from evidence and refusal of Plaintiffs’ motion for reconsideration. Finding no error below, we affirm the district court’s order.

BACKGROUND

{2} Plaintiffs were injured when á vehicle driven by Steve Serrano (Serrano), one of the Plaintiffs, collided with a semitruck. Based largely on Serrano’s July 10, 1997 deposition testimony, Defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on October 31, 1997. The district court convened a hearing on the motion on March 2, 1998. Defendants arg-ued that the undisputed evidence established that the proximate cause of the accident was Serrano’s loss of consciousness while driving and not any act or omission of any Defendant.

{3} Opposing summary judgment, Plaintiffs submitted Serrano’s November 21, 1997, affidavit, which stated that his deposition testimony should not be construed as an admission to his having lost consciousness immediately prior to the accident. Plaintiffs also submitted the police report of the accident. In its narrative portion, the report stated that, immediately after the accident, Serrano told the investigating officer: he was driving south on U.S. 84/285; he did not know how fast he was going; he looked to his right for a moment and, when he looked front, he saw the truck, which had almost stopped and which had its right turn signal on; and he applied his brakes, but could not stop. Plaintiffs argued, based upon these submissions, that there was a genuine dispute as to whether Serrano lost consciousness prior to impact. The trial court refused to admit the report, citing Rule 1-056(E) NMRA 1999 (requiring affidavits based on personal knowledge for a summary judgment motion) and NMSA 1978, § 66-7-213(B) (1989) (“Except as otherwise provided in this section, no accident report shall be used as evidence in any trial, civil or criminal, arising out of an accident.”), and did not accept Serrano’s affidavit as creating a genuine dispute of material fact. The trial court issued its formal order granting Defendants’ motion on March 10,1998.

{4} That same afternoon, Plaintiffs moved the court to reconsider its order, attaching portions of an October 30, 1997, deposition of the officer who had originally investigated the accident and authored the previously rejected report. Plaintiffs again argued that there was a genuine dispute as to whether Serrano had lost consciousness prior to impact, thus causing the accident.

{5} The trial court denied Plaintiffs’ motion to reconsider, noting that the officer’s deposition was not before the court at the time of its previous ruling. The court further noted that Plaintiffs had failed to show that the testimony would be admissible at trial or that it created a genuine issue of material fact.

DISCUSSION

{6} Plaintiffs raise several issues on appeal. We address Plaintiffs’ challenges regarding: (1) Serrano’s deposition and affidavit testimony, (2) exclusion of the accident report, and (3) the district court’s refusal to reconsider its entry of summary judgment. Because of our disposition and the reasons noted below, we need not address Plaintiffs’ other issue.

1. Serrano’s Deposition and Affidavit Testimony

{7} The general rules of summary judgment are well established. Once a movant has made a successful prima facie showing, the nonmovant can defeat the motion by demonstrating a genuine dispute of material fact. See Cates v. Regents of the New Mexico Inst. of Mining & Tech., 1998-NMSC-002, ¶ 24, 124 N.M. 633, 954 P.2d 65. We construe reasonable doubts as to the existence of a genuine factual dispute in the nonmovant’s favor. See Lotspeich v. Golden Oil Co., 1998-NMCA-101, ¶10, 125 N.M. 365, 961 P.2d 790. In the present case, we are faced with the question of whether an apparent contradiction between a nonmovant’s testimony at deposition and subsequent affidavit is sufficient to create a genuine dispute of material fact.

{8} We note that this question is not susceptible to a universally applicable answer. Prior ease law indicates that “where a factual conflict exists in plaintiffs’ testimony, summary judgment is improper because we do not weigh the evidence.” Sanders v. Smith, 83 N.M. 706, 710, 496 P.2d 1102, 1106 (Ct.App.1972); see also Martinez v. Metzgar, 97 N.M. 173, 174, 637 P.2d 1228, 1229 (1981); Kelly v. Montoya, 81 N.M. 591, 593, 470 P.2d 563, 565 (Ct.App.1970). However, while it is not the judge’s role to weigh the evidence at summary judgment, Rule 1-056(C) requires that the claimed dispute of fact be genuine. See Apodaca v. Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe R.R., 67 N.M. 227, 230, 354 P.2d 524, 526 (1960) (rejecting nonmovant’s affidavit which contradicted prior deposition testimony and was “well calculated to circumvent the motion for summary judgment”); Pedigo v. Valley Mobile Homes, Inc., 97 N.M. 795, 798, 643 P.2d 1247, 1250 (Ct.App.1982) (finding no genuine dispute of. fact in “self-serving” affidavit that was “factually unsupported” and not based upon “personal knowledge”); cf. Lotspeich, 1998-NMCA-101, ¶¶ 12-13, 125 N.M. 365, 961 P.2d 790 (reversing summary judgment where nonmovant’s affidavits were “neither conelusory nor without a factual base”). Ultimately, the determination of whether a genuine factual dispute exists is a question of law. See Coates v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 1999-NMSC-013, 127 N.M. 47, 976 P.2d 999.

{9} We note that in applying the federal counterpart to our Rule 1-056, virtually every federal circuit has recognized that a nonmovant will not be allowed to defeat summary judgment by attempting to create a sham issue of fact. See Burrell v. Star Nursery, Inc., 170 F.3d 951, 954 (9th Cir. 1999); Schiernbeck v. Davis, 143 F.3d 434, 438 (8th Cir.1998); Cowan v. Prudential Ins. Co. of America, 141 F.3d 751, 756 (7th Cir. 1998); Halperin v. Abacus Tech. Corp., 128 F.3d 191, 198 (4th Cir.1997); Hayes v. New York City Dep’t of Corrections, 84 F.3d 614, 619 (2d Cir.1996); Rios v. Bigler, 67 F.3d 1543, 1551 (10th Cir.1995); Farrell v. Automobile Club of Michigan, 870 F.2d 1129, 1131-32 (6th Cir.1989); Martin v. Merrell Dow Pharm., Inc., 851 F.2d 703, 706 (3d Cir.1988); Tippens v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1999 NMCA 129, 990 P.2d 219, 128 N.M. 106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rivera-v-trujillo-nmctapp-1999.