Shearton Development Co. v. Group I: Town of Chilili Land Grant

2003 NMCA 120, 78 P.3d 525, 134 N.M. 444
CourtNew Mexico Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 6, 2003
DocketNos. 22,441, 23,255
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 2003 NMCA 120 (Shearton Development Co. v. Group I: Town of Chilili Land Grant) 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
Shearton Development Co. v. Group I: Town of Chilili Land Grant, 2003 NMCA 120, 78 P.3d 525, 134 N.M. 444 (N.M. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

OPINION

ROBINSON, Judge.

{1} The opinion filed in this case on July 8, 2003, is withdrawn and the following opinion is filed in its stead. The motion for rehearing is otherwise denied.

{2} Defendants appeal one district court order granting partial summary judgment to quiet title to a certain parcel of land in favor of Plaintiff and one final judgment quieting title to certain roads in Plaintiff. Defendants raise five issues on appeal: (1) whether the district court erred in precluding by collateral estoppel the relitigation of Defendants’ argument that the Chilili Land Grant Board of Trustees (Board) lacks the power to sue and be sued, (2) whether the Board does possess the power to sue and be sued, (3) whether the heirs of the land grant are necessary parties to the action, (4) whether the district court erred in granting summary judgment in favor of Plaintiff as to the parcel of land, and (5) whether the district court erred in quieting title to the roads in Plaintiff. We affirm.

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL BACKGROUND

{3} Plaintiff Shearton Development Co., LLC (Plaintiff) purchased property, known as Sundance Mountain Ranches (Sundance), at a foreclosure sale. Plaintiff filed a complaint seeking a quiet title decree for that property, damages for slander of title and trespass, ejectment, recovery of property, injunctive relief, and, alternatively, inverse condemnation. The first amended complaint named two sets of Defendants. Group I Defendants included the Town of Chihli Land Grant, various entities that have managed the Chilili Land Grant, and Juan Sanchez, who has headed each managing entity. This opinion refers to Group I Defendants collectively as “Defendants.” Group II Defendants were named as the “Unknown Claimants of Interest in the Premises Adverse to the Plaintiff.” The Group II Defendants failed to appear, plead, or otherwise defend the action, and the district court entered a final default judgment against them.

{4} Defendants filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that the district court did not have jurisdiction over them because the Chilili Land Grant’s creating statute, NMSA 1978, §§ 49^4-1 to -3 (1876, as amended through 1943), does not expressly confer upon the Board the power to sue or be sued. The district court denied Defendants’ motion to dismiss, finding that Defendants often invoke state court jurisdiction; that no appellate court has sua sponte denied jurisdiction over the Chihli Land Grant; and that the district court has jurisdiction over the Board, which has the power to sue and be sued on behalf of the Chilili Land Grant, a power necessarily implied from the express statutory grants of authority to pass ordinances and to sell and convey real property.

{5} Plaintiff filed a motion for partial summary judgment to quiet title and, as alluded to earlier, for default judgment against the Group II Defendants. In its memorandum in support of summary judgment, Plaintiff sought to summarily quiet its title in what it simply calls “Shearton Property,” land which the complaint’s attached exhibits describe in terms of numbered lots and in metes and bounds. The district court entered a default judgment against the Group II Defendants and granted partial summary judgment to quiet title to the Shearton Property in Plaintiff, resolving several, but not all, of the claims contained in the complaint.

{6} The district court’s judgment, among other things, resolved that it has jurisdiction over the subject matter and parties to the action; that collateral estoppel bars Defendants from relitigating the jurisdictional issues; that the heirs of the Chilili Land Grant are neither real parties in interest, nor necessary and proper parties; and that Plaintiff is the owner in fee simple and rightful possessor of the Shearton Property. In its order, the district court retained jurisdiction over the remaining counts set forth in Plaintiffs first amended complaint.

{7} The hearing in Shearton Dev. Co. v. Chilili Land Grant, No. 22,441 (Shearton I) revealed that determining ownership of certain portions of the property was complicated by the fact that the parties were describing the property differently. Plaintiff used numbered lots and metes and bounds; Defendants used numbered tracts and maps. In addition to challenging Plaintiffs overall title to the Shearton Property, Defendants also claimed ownership of certain roads they described as Tract 8, Map 21, Tract 18, Map 26, and “portion[s] of Sundance Kid Road,” which Defendants believed were included in the property Plaintiff claimed to have purchased at the foreclosure sale. Although the partial summary judgment order quieted title in Plaintiff to virtually all of the Shearton Property, the district court did not grant summary judgment concerning the ownership of the roads allegedly within the Shear-ton Property, finding genuine issues of material fact that would require further argument at a separate hearing. While the partial summary judgment order did not resolve all outstanding claims, Defendants nevertheless filed a notice of appeal from the order granting partial summary judgment. See Shear-ton I.

{8} Subsequently, the district court held a separate hearing to determine whether Plaintiffs title included the roads identified by Defendants as “portions of Sundance Kid Road,” Tract 8, Map 21, and Tract 18, Map 26. After hearing evidence and oral argument, the district court ruled that Plaintiff owned the roads and tracts in fee simple, and it retained jurisdiction over the remaining counts of Plaintiffs first amended complaint. Defendants then filed a second notice of appeal. See Shearton Dev. Co. v. Chilili Land Grant, No. 23,255 (Shearton II). Ultimately, the district court dismissed Plaintiffs remaining counts with prejudice. Now that all claims have been resolved below, we proceed to address the issues raised in Shearton I and Shearton II in this consolidated opinion. DISCUSSION

A. Whether the Board Has the Power to Sue and Be Sued

{9} In its reply to Defendants’ response to the motion for summary judgment in Shear-ton I, Plaintiff argued that a recent judgment from the district court collaterally estopped Defendants from arguing that the Board lacked the power to sue and be sued. The district court ruled that the doctrine of collateral estoppel barred Defendants from relitigating this issue, and that, even if it did not, the Board had the power to sue and be sued.

{10} Defendants continue to raise their argument that the issue of whether the Board has the power to sue and be sued is a pure question of law to which the doctrine of collateral estoppel does not apply. However, because we conclude that the Board has the power to sue and be sued, we need not decide whether the prior conclusion of law on the identical issue can be collaterally binding on this subsequent case.

{11} Defendants argue that the Board lacks the capacity to sue and be sued because the Board has only those powers expressly conferred to it by the Chilili Land Grant’s creating statute, Sections 49-4-1 to -3, and the statute does not enumerate the Board’s power to sue and be sued. In support of their argument, Defendants refer to Merrifield v. Buckner, 41 N.M. 442, 70 P.2d 896 (1937).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2003 NMCA 120, 78 P.3d 525, 134 N.M. 444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shearton-development-co-v-group-i-town-of-chilili-land-grant-nmctapp-2003.