State v. Corporation of Abiquiu Tierra Amarilla Land Grant

571 P.2d 1190, 91 N.M. 187
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 7, 1977
DocketNo. 10939
StatusPublished

This text of 571 P.2d 1190 (State v. Corporation of Abiquiu Tierra Amarilla Land Grant) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Corporation of Abiquiu Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, 571 P.2d 1190, 91 N.M. 187 (N.M. 1977).

Opinion

OPINION

SOSA, Justice.

In October of 1964, the State of New Mexico, by and through the District Attorney of the First Judicial District, petitioned that court to issue a permanent restraining order to enjoin the Corporation of Abiquiu Tierra Amarilla Land Grant, a/k/a Corporación de Abiquiu, Merced de Tierra Amarilla, a purported corporation, and certain individuals who were officers and/or members of the corporation, from performing certain acts which were in contravention of the rights of the record owners of lands within the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant. The relief sought was granted by the District Court of the First Judicial District and was filed on October 20, 1964.

On December 31, 1965, and on June 5, 1967, the State filed petitions seeking to hold the defendants in contempt of court for failure to abide by the court decree. However, it appears from the record that these petitions were never taken to a final resolution. Nevertheless, in May of 1974, the State filed another petition seeking to hold the defendants in contempt of court.

Thereafter, in May and July of 1974, several individuals and a New Mexico corporation petitioned the court to allow them to intervene in the contempt action against the defendants. The court granted the petitions in August and November of 1974. Such intervenors claimed to be the true owners of the land in question, and furthermore, they claimed to be the recipients of certain actions on the part of the defendants which were alleged violations of the original injunction of 1964.

Motions to dismiss the petitions based on lack of jurisdiction were filed and denied, and also a jury demand was made and denied. Thereafter, on January 14, 1976, following an evidentiary hearing without a jury, the Honorable Edwin L. Felter found the defendants in contempt of court.

The plaintiffs-in-intervention allege that the Corporation of Abiquiu Tierra Amarilla, by and through its directors, issued deeds to its members, purporting to convey certain properties which belong to the plaintiffs, record owners. The defendant-corporation claims title to the lands based on the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and certain hijuelas stemming from the treaty. There are also allegations that certain members of the corporation continually trespass oh those lands. The individual defendants deny trespassing on the property since they claim to be grantees of the land based on the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant.

The district court decided that the permanent restraining order issued on October 20, 1964, was valid and binding and found the named defendants in contempt of court due to violations of the injunction. However, the sentence on the defendants was placed in abeyance for three years to allow them to comply with the spirit of the injunction.

Although the appellants urge many errors by the trial court, we believe that only two issues are controlling. Appellants contend that the original injunction issued in 1964 is void for being vague and overbroad, and that there was no substantial evidence to support the trial court’s finding that the defendants were in contempt of court for violations of the 1964 injunction.

In order to discuss the above issues the pertinent portions of the 1964 injunction should be set forth. The defendants were enjoined from:

(1) [IJssuing or causing to be issued any further eviction orders or notices;
(2) [C]arrying out or attempting or threatening to carry out any eviction of any person whatsoever without legal process of the Courts of the United States or the State of New Mexico;
(6) [PJatrolling or trespassing on any private land or interfering with the possessor of said land in the peaceful enjoyment of said land in any way whatsoever.

We first address the contention that the injunction should be considered void for being vague and overbroad. The appellants urge that the first, fifth and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution were violated by the injunction since it was lacking in precision and had no ascertainable standard to govern its enforcement. They argue that the injunction was so vague and uncertain that it could not be read by persons of common intelligence, and since it proscribed and regulated speech which is protected by the first amendment, the injunction, due to its vagueness, must fail. In support of these contentions the appellants cite Coates v. Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611, 91 S.Ct. 1686, 29 L.Ed.2d 214 (1971) and Cramp v. Bd. of Public Instructions, 368 U.S. 278, 82 S.Ct. 275, 7 L.Ed.2d 285 (1961).

The Coates case, supra, held that an ordinance which prevented three or more persons from assembling on any sidewalk, except at a public meeting was unconstitutionally vague on its face in that it subjected the exercise of right to assemble to an unascertainable standard.

In Cramp, supra, the United States Supreme Court held that a statute which required a teacher to swear that he had never supported the Communist Party was vague and uncertain, and therefore, pursuant to the due process clause the state could not force the teacher to take the oath at the risk of facing prosecution for perjury or immediate dismissal.

The cases cited, though authority for the propositions asserted, are clearly distinguishable from the case at bar. In the instant case, we are not faced with first amendment issues. The case turns on whether the actions taken by the defendants are protected by the Constitution of the United States.

The trial court found that the defendants, both individually and through the corporation, conveyed deeds to members of the corporation which purported to vest in those members title to the lands which were owned by the plaintiffs; removed locks from the gates on these lands and replaced them with their own locks; and allowed their cattle to graze on these lands despite the warnings by the land owners to remove their cattle and to discontinue trespassing. The defendants were also found to have encouraged other members of the corporation to trespass upon said lands and even threatened to evict the owners from their respective lands. The court also determined that due to the holdings of Martinez v. Rivera, 196 F.2d 192 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 344 U.S. 828, 73 S.Ct. 30, 97 L.Ed. 644 (1952), and Flores v. Bruesselbach, 149 F.2d 616 (10th Cir. 1945), the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant was not a community grant as alleged by the defendants, and therefore, the defendants’ organization had no legal authority to assert rights to the land on behalf of the community. By reason of these findings the trial court found the defendants in contempt of court for violating the 1964 injunction.

Upon evaluating the original injunction and after reviewing the trial court’s findings we can find no similarity between this case and those utilized by the appellants in support of their vagueness and overbreadth theories.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cramp v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange Cty.
368 U.S. 278 (Supreme Court, 1961)
Coates v. City of Cincinnati
402 U.S. 611 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Grayned v. City of Rockford
408 U.S. 104 (Supreme Court, 1972)
Martinez v. Rivera
196 F.2d 192 (Tenth Circuit, 1952)
Marjon v. Quintana
484 P.2d 338 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1971)
Terrel v. Lowdermilk
391 P.2d 419 (New Mexico Supreme Court, 1964)
In re Berry
436 P.2d 273 (California Supreme Court, 1968)
Flores v. Bruesselbach
149 F.2d 616 (Tenth Circuit, 1945)
Stewart v. United States
236 F. 838 (Eighth Circuit, 1916)
Grayned v. City of Rockford
408 U.S. 104 (Supreme Court, 1972)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
571 P.2d 1190, 91 N.M. 187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-corporation-of-abiquiu-tierra-amarilla-land-grant-nm-1977.