Sanchez v. Bradbury & Stamm Construction

781 P.2d 319, 109 N.M. 47
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 7, 1989
Docket11602
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 781 P.2d 319 (Sanchez v. Bradbury & Stamm Construction) 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
Sanchez v. Bradbury & Stamm Construction, 781 P.2d 319, 109 N.M. 47 (N.M. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

Appellant filed an application for interlocutory review of a hearing officer’s order denying his motion to dismiss appellees’ petition to reduce his workers’ compensation benefits. We conclude that we are without jurisdiction to grant the application because the court of appeals only has jurisdiction to review matters as provided by law and the legislature has not conferred jurisdiction upon this court to consider interlocutory appeals from the Workers’ Compensation Division (Division). Accordingly, we deny the application for interlocutory review and remand the matter to the Division for further proceedings.

Appellant was injured on January 17, 1984. Appellees voluntarily paid him workers’ compensation benefits from the date of his injury until he returned to work in April or May of the same year. On April 27, 1986, appellant again left work as a result of the January 1984 accidental injury, and appellees again voluntarily paid him workers’ compensation benefits. No claim for compensation benefits has ever been filed by appellant. On January 11, 1989, appellees filed in the Division a petition to reduce benefits pursuant to NMSA 1978, Section 52-5-5(A) (Repl.Pamp.1987). Appellant then filed a motion to dismiss appellees’ petition asserting lack of jurisdiction. The hearing officer denied the motion but certified the order for interlocutory appeal. See NMSA 1978, § 39-3-4(A).

The issue certified for interlocutory review is whether the Division may consider an employer’s petition for reduction of benefits where no compensation order has been previously entered. In considering whether to grant the application, we address initially the threshold question of whether this court has jurisdiction to entertain appellant’s application. The parties have filed responses to our order to show cause as to whether this court has jurisdiction to grant the application. Appellees argue we have jurisdiction and appellant concedes we do not have jurisdiction.

JURISDICTION

The court of appeals only has jurisdiction to review matters as provided by law. N.M. Const. art. VI, § 29; State ex rel. Townsend v. Court of Appeals, 78 N.M. 71, 428 P.2d 473 (1967); State ex rel. Dep’t of Human Servs. v. Manfre, 102 N.M. 241, 693 P.2d 1273 (Ct.App.1984). Since appellant’s petition was filed after December 1, 1986, the Division has original jurisdiction over appellees’ petition to reduce benefits. See Wylie Corp. v. Mowrer, 104 N.M. 751, 726 P.2d 1381 (1986). However, Section 39-3-4(A), the statutory authorization for interlocutory appeals, only provides for interlocutory appeals from the district court.

Our appellate rules, SCRA 1986, 12-101 through 12-607, include procedural rules pertaining to interlocutory appeals. See R. 12-203. They also provide for the substitution of the administrative agency appealed from whenever the rules refer to the district court. See R. 12-601(B). However, our appellate rules do not confer the right to appeal since the right of appeal is a matter of substantive law outside of the supreme court’s rule making authority. See Durand v. New Mexico Comm’n on Alcoholism, 89 N.M. 434, 553 P.2d 714 (Ct.App.1976). Thus, the appellate rules do not provide authority for interlocutory review in the instant matter.

Appellees contend that NMSA 1978, Section 52-5-8(B) (Repl.Pamp.1987) permits this court to review interlocutory appeals from the Division. Subsections (A) and (B) provide:

A. Any party in interest may, within thirty days of mailing of the final order of the hearing officer, file a notice of appeal with the court of appeals.
B. A decision of a hearing officer is reviewable by the court of appeals in the manner provided for other cases and is subject to stay proceedings as provided by the rules of civil procedure for the district courts, except that the appeal shall be advanced on the calendar and disposed of as promptly as possible.

Appellees argue that subsection 52-5-8(B) is the general provision that provides authority for interlocutory appeals from decisions of hearing officers and that the term “other cases” in subsection (B) refers to district court cases. They note that properly certified decisions of district courts are reviewable pursuant to Section 39-3-4 and argue correspondingly that if an interlocutory appeal is a manner of appeal available in district court cases, the statute contemplates that the same manner of appeal is made applicable to workers’ compensation cases by Section 52-5-8(B). They further argue that subsection 52-5-8(A) does not limit the kinds of appeals from the Division, including interlocutory appeals, but only addresses itself to the proper timing of a notice of appeal from final orders.

Although subsection 52-5-8(A) expressly provides for a direct appeal from a final order of the hearing officer, the statute does not expressly provide for an interlocutory appeal from a non-final order. Subsection 52-5-8(A) limits appellate jurisdiction to review final orders of the Division. Similarly, subsection 52-5-8(B), does not explicitly provide for a right of interlocutory appeal.

The general rule in administrative law is that, absent express statutory authorization, “no one is entitled to judicial relief for a supposed or threatened injury until the prescribed administrative remedy has been exhausted.” Coca-Cola Co. v. F.T.C., 475 F.2d 299, 302 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 414 U.S. 877, 94 S.Ct. 121, 38 L.Ed.2d 122 (1973) (quoting Myers v. Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., 303 U.S. 41, 50-51, 58 S.Ct. 459, 463-464, 82 L.Ed. 638 (1938)); see also Angel Fire Corp. v. C.S. Cattle Co., 96 N.M. 651, 634 P.2d 202 (1981). As observed by our supreme court in Angel Fire, “[j]urisdiction of the matters in dispute does not lie in the courts until the statutorily required administrative procedures are fully complied with. The courts have no authority to alter the statutory scheme____” Id. at 652, 634 P.2d at 203.

We believe the legislature did not intend to permit interlocutory appeals from the Division and that appellate review is limited to final orders as specified in subsection 52-5-8(A). We also determine that subsection 52-5-8(B) does not provide statutory authority for interlocutory appellate review of non-final administrative orders of the Division.

Under Section 39-3-4(A), only the district court is authorized to certify a question for interlocutory appellate review. We conclude that if the legislature had intended to extend to the Division the authority to certify questions for interlocutory appeal it would have specifically so provided. See Garrison v. Safeway Stores, 102 N.M.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
781 P.2d 319, 109 N.M. 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanchez-v-bradbury-stamm-construction-nmctapp-1989.