AI Generated Opinion Summaries
Decision Information
Chapter 37 - Limitation of Actions; Abatement and Revivor - cited by 1,233 documents
Chapter 3 - Municipalities - cited by 2,032 documents
Decision Content
This summary was computer-generated without any editorial revision. It is not official, has not been checked for accuracy, and is NOT citable.
Facts
The Plaintiffs owned two residential lots in the Village of Ruidoso, which they sold to third parties. After the third parties defaulted, the Plaintiffs foreclosed on the mortgage and reacquired the property. The third parties had failed to pay water and sewer fees, leading the Village to record a lien against the property in 2000. In 2004, the Plaintiffs discovered the lien while attempting to sell the property and demanded its release, arguing that the statute of limitations had expired. The Village refused, and the Plaintiffs paid the debt to release the lien (paras 2-3).
Procedural History
- District Court of Lincoln County: Granted summary judgment in favor of the Village of Ruidoso, holding that statutes of limitations could not be pleaded against the Village as it was a subdivision of the State of New Mexico (headnotes, para 1).
Parties' Submissions
- Plaintiffs-Appellants: Argued that the Village, as a "body corporate or politic," was subject to the four-year statute of limitations under NMSA 1978, § 37-1-4. They contended that the Village had not demonstrated that the State was the real party in interest in the municipal water lien (paras 6, 9).
- Defendant-Appellee (Village of Ruidoso): Asserted that it was immune from statutes of limitations as an auxiliary of the State, relying on common law principles and case law, including Morningstar Water Users Ass'n, Inc. v. Farmington Municipal School. It also argued that the governmental-proprietary doctrine, which had been rejected, was improperly relied upon in prior cases (paras 4, 7-8).
Legal Issues
- Whether the Village of Ruidoso, as a municipality, is subject to the four-year statute of limitations under NMSA 1978, § 37-1-4, for its claim of a municipal water lien.
Disposition
- The Court of Appeals reversed the district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Village of Ruidoso (para 10).
Reasons
Per Fry J. (Bustamante CJ and Wechsler J. concurring):
The Court held that the Village of Ruidoso, as a municipality, is a "body corporate or politic" under NMSA 1978, § 3-18-1, and is therefore subject to the statute of limitations under NMSA 1978, § 37-1-4. The Court rejected the Village's argument that it was immune as an auxiliary of the State, noting that the Village had not demonstrated that the State was the real party in interest in the municipal water lien. The Court distinguished the case from Morningstar Water Users Ass'n, Inc., which addressed a different legal context, and clarified that the Standhardt decision did not rely on the rejected governmental-proprietary doctrine but on statutory interpretation. Consequently, the Plaintiffs were entitled to a declaratory judgment that the statute of limitations had expired and to a return of their payment (paras 4-10).