Spann v. National Conference of Bar Examiners

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 12, 2026
Docket24-2083
StatusPublished

This text of Spann v. National Conference of Bar Examiners (Spann v. National Conference of Bar Examiners) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spann v. National Conference of Bar Examiners, (10th Cir. 2026).

Opinion

Appellate Case: 24-2083 Document: 103-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals PUBLISH Tenth Circuit

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS February 12, 2026

Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________

DOCTOR PERRY SPANN,

Plaintiff - Appellant,

v. No. 24-2083

THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BAR EXAMINERS; THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF BAR EXAMINERS BOARD OF TRUSTEES AND OFFICERS; SUZANNE K. RICHARDS, ESQ., individually and as a Chair and as an Officer and as a Trustee; HULETT H. ASKEW, ESQ., individually and as an Immediate Past Chair and as an Officer and as a Trustee; TIMOTHY Y. WONG, ESQ., individually and as a Chair-Elect and as an Officer and as a Trustee; JOHN J. MCALARY, ESQ., Individually and as a Secretary and as an Officer and as a Trustee; JUDITH GUNDERSEN, ESQ., individually and as the President/CEO and as an Officer and as a Trustee; SCOTT BALES, ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Trustee; ARLENE Y. COLEMAN, ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Trustee; SOLOMON OLIVER, JR., ESQ., individually and as an Officer; AUGUSTIN RIVERA, JR., ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Trustee; DARIN B. SCHEER, ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Trustee; ANTHONY R. SIMON, ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Trustee; ANN A. SCOTT TIMMER, ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Appellate Case: 24-2083 Document: 103-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2026 Page: 2

Trustee; MARILYN J. WELLINGTON, ESQ., individually and as an Officer and as a Trustee; BRAD GILBERT, ESQ., individually and as General Counsel; THE NEW MEXICO BOARD OF BAR EXAMINERS; SOPHIE MARTIN, ESQ., individually and as a Director of Communications, Education, and Outreach,

Defendants - Appellees. _________________________________

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico (D.C. No. 1:21-CV-00709-MIS-SCY) _________________________________

Submitted on the briefs: *

Laurel Francoeur, Woburn, MA, Lisa S. Cleveland, New York, New York, and Chandler Blair, Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Plaintiff-Appellant.

Robert A. Burgoyne, Perkins Coie LLP, Washington, DC, for National Conference of Bar Examiners, and related individuals, Defendants-Appellees.

Michael Dickman, Santa Fe, New Mexico for New Mexico Board of Bar Examiners, Defendant-Appellee.

_________________________________

Before HARTZ, BACHARACH, and CARSON, Circuit Judges. _________________________________

HARTZ, Circuit Judge. _________________________________

* After examining the briefs and appellate record, this panel has determined unanimously that oral argument would not materially assist in the determination of this appeal. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2); 10th Cir. R. 34.1(G). The case is therefore ordered submitted without oral argument. 2 Appellate Case: 24-2083 Document: 103-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2026 Page: 3

After failing the New Mexico bar exam, Plaintiff Dr. Perry Spann sued the

National Conference of Bar Examiners (the National Conference) and the New Mexico

Board of Bar Examiners (the State Board) in the United States District Court for the

District of New Mexico. The district court dismissed all the claims. Plaintiff appeals the

dismissal of her claims against the National Conference for lack of personal jurisdiction,

and the dismissal on the merits of her claims against the State Board. Exercising

jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm the judgment below largely because

Plaintiff failed to preserve her issues in district court or on appeal.

I. BACKGROUND

In February 2020 Plaintiff took the New Mexico bar exam. Because she is

disabled, she was approved for certain testing accommodations. But, contending that she

was not afforded those accommodations during the exam, she brought the present action

and then amended her complaint three times before any defendant appeared in the case.

Her third amended complaint alleged that the defendants’ failure to provide these

accommodations violated Titles II and III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA),

see 42 U.S.C. §§ 12131–12132, 12181–12189, violated § 504 of the Rehabilitation Act,

see 29 U.S.C. § 794, and violated a number of other federal and state laws not at issue on

this appeal. The district court dismissed her claims against the National Conference for

lack of personal jurisdiction. At Plaintiff’s request the district court permitted her to file a

fourth amended complaint but limited it to only a proposed count against the State Board

for violation of Title III of the ADA. Later, the district court granted the State Board’s

3 Appellate Case: 24-2083 Document: 103-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2026 Page: 4

motion to dismiss that ADA claim on the ground of sovereign immunity under the

Eleventh Amendment. 1

II. DISCUSSION

We first address Plaintiff’s challenges to the district court’s dismissal of her claims

against the National Conference and then turn to her challenges to the dismissal of her

claims against the State Board.

A. The National Conference

Plaintiff does not argue that the district court erred in ruling that it lacked personal

jurisdiction over the National Conference based on the evidence before it when it so

ruled. She challenges only the court’s denial of her request to conduct discovery

regarding the National Conference’s contacts with New Mexico after the court had

dismissed the claims against it for lack of personal jurisdiction.

The problem for Plaintiff is that she never properly requested this discovery

below. Plaintiff filed this lawsuit in July 2021. In November 2021 the State Board moved

to dismiss the third amended complaint based in part on qualified immunity and moved to

stay discovery “as to all claims and all defendants” while that motion was pending.

1 Plaintiff’s third amended complaint also named individual members of the National Conference and of the State Board. But those claims are not at issue on appeal. Her appellate briefs do not challenge the district court’s dismissal of the claims against the members of the National Conference for lack of personal jurisdiction. And as for her claims in her third amended complaint against individual members of the State Board, her proposed fourth amended complaint dropped the claims against all but one of the members and she has not challenged on appeal the district court’s ruling denying leave to amend as to the remaining member on the ground that it would be futile. 4 Appellate Case: 24-2083 Document: 103-1 Date Filed: 02/12/2026 Page: 5

Aplt. App. at 24. Plaintiff did not object to the motion to stay. On December 13, 2021,

the National Conference moved to dismiss the claims and submitted declarations showing

that it did not have the contacts with New Mexico necessary to subject it to personal

jurisdiction. Two days later, the magistrate judge granted the stay of discovery. Plaintiff

responded on the merits to the National Conference motion to dismiss, without requesting

an exception to the stay. In August 2022 the magistrate judge recommended dismissing

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Spann v. National Conference of Bar Examiners, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spann-v-national-conference-of-bar-examiners-ca10-2026.