Vigil v. Arzola

687 P.2d 1038, 101 N.M. 687, 120 L.R.R.M. (BNA) 2908

• Court: New Mexico Supreme Court
• Decided: September 21, 1984
• Docket: 15037
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION

SOSA, Senior Justice.

This is a termination of employment suit brought by plaintiff Pete Vigil (Vigil) against defendants Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation (TDS) and the TDS director, Ernesto Arzola (Arzola).

Although three causes of action were brought before the district court, we have only one cause of action before us on certiorari, Vigil’s claim that Arzola and TDS breached his employment contract.

The trial court, at the conclusion of all evidence, dismissed the breach of contract cause of action by granting a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. NMSA 1978, Civ. P.R. 12(b)(6) (Repl.Pamp.1980). The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court as to this cause of action. We reverse.

The facts are recited in full in the Court of Appeals decision. We will review them briefly. Defendant TDS is a nonprofit tax exempt corporation, that is primarily federally funded. It was established to offer home building assistance to low income persons. Arzola, as TDS director, was responsible for the day-to-day operation. Plaintiff Vigil was an employee of TDS for less than six months when he criticized, in letters to government officials, certain corporate procedures including the spending of public funds. Among the things he alleged were: payment by Arzola to himself and a bookkeeper of unauthorized salaries; use of federal monies to purchase personal food and liquor; unauthorized signatures on corporate documents; nepotism and other irregularities. Following the criticism, Arzola terminated Vigil. The decision to terminate Vigil was reversed by the TDS Personnel Committee, but upheld by the Board of Directors of TDS. Vigil then filed this suit.

Rule 12(b)(6)

The question is procedural. The trial court, by granting the motion, ruled the plaintiff did not state a claim recognized under New Mexico law. Dismissal of a contract claim on a Rule 12(b)(6) motion is a legal, not evidentiary, determination. McCasland v. Prather, 92 N.M. 192, 585 P.2d 336 (Ct.App.1978). McCasland states:

The purpose of a motion under 12(b)(6) is to test the formal sufficiency of the statement of the claim for relief; i.e., to test the law of the claim, not the facts that support it. [Citation omitted.] Also, in considering whether a complaint states a cause of action upon which relief may be granted, the court must accept as true all the facts which are pled. [Citation omitted.] Further, a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim is granted infrequently. [Citation omitted.] (Emphasis added.)

Id. at 194, 585 P.2d at 338; see also Bottijliso v. Hutchison Fruit Co., 96 N.M. 789, 791, 635 P.2d 992, 993 (Ct.App.1981); see, e.g., Burke v. Permian Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, 95 N.M. 314, 621 P.2d 1119 (1981) (remand of R. 12(b)(6) motion in a lease dispute).

Recently, we reviewed the elements of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion. Environmental Improvement Division of the New Mexico Health and Environment Department v. Aguayo, 99 N.M. 497, 660 P.2d 587 (1983). In Aguayo we held as controlling the principles in McCasland. Additionally, we stated:

A Rule 12(b)(6) motion is only proper when it appears that plaintiff can neither recover nor obtain relief under any state of facts provable under the claim [citation omitted] * * * [and] the allegations pleaded in the complaint must be taken as true for purposes of an appeal. [Citations omitted.]

Id. at 499, 660 P.2d at 589.

For the purposes of appeal from the granting of a Rule 12(b)(6) motion, the facts pleaded in this complaint which must be taken as true are: 1) Vigil was an employee of the defendant; 2) he was fired without being afforded the procedures set forth in the defendant’s personnel manual and 3) this was a breach of Vigil’s employment contract.

After reviewing the record and taking the allegations pleaded as true, we determine the complaint states a claim upon which relief may be granted.

We reverse the dismissal of a breach of contract claim by the trial court and remand for a new trial on that cause of action.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

FEDERICI, C.J., and WALTERS, J., concur. RIORDAN and STOWERS, JJ., dissent.