NM Supreme Court rules on liability for 911 dispatchers

LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico Supreme Court clarified the extent to which 911 dispatchers are immune from claims for damages arising from negligence in a unanimous opinion Monday.

The ruling was sought by a federal court where a lawsuit is pending over the 2020 death of a 16-year-old boy from Doña Ana County.

The justices unanimously found that a New Mexico statute addressing liability for emergency dispatchers and their agencies did not protect them from legal claims of damages, injury or death caused by flawed responses to emergency calls.

A casual hike on a summer morning took a horrific turn for a Las Cruces family on July 7, 2020. All seemed well when Isaac Brealey-Rood, 16, went on a hike on the popular Baylor Canyon Pass Trail in the Organ Mountains, east of town, with his adoptive mother and brother plus the family’s two dogs.

One hour into the hike, the teenager began to show signs of heat-related sickness. As the family made their way back to their vehicle, he collapsed.

According to the family’s 2022 lawsuit, a series of errors and miscommunications resulted in delays that proved fatal, as emergency responders did not reach the ailing child for 81 minutes after his mother, Carissa Brealey, first called 911.

The call was allegedly referred to fire prevention specialists, two ambulances were dispatched and canceled and a subsequent dispatch bypassed the closest stations. The lawsuit also alleged that the emergency was mischaracterized as a search-and-rescue call and that the severity of Brealey-Rood’s symptoms was not communicated.

When first responders arrived in the parking area, Brealey said she watched from up the trail as the crews waited for a utility vehicle. While Brealey had told dispatchers they were located less than ¾ of a mile up the trail, a spot easily accessible by foot, dispatch notes recorded their location as 3¼ miles up the trail.

Isaac Brealey-Rood died the following day of multi-organ failure as a result of heat stroke, which the family attributes to delayed medical care. The family sued the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority and individual dispatchers, as well as Doña Ana County and two county fire prevention specialists, the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and the city of Las Cruces.

The federal court asked New Mexico’s justices to clarify whether 911 dispatchers are immune from the family’s negligence claims, owing to a possible contradiction between two statutes.

Defendants in the lawsuit had claimed immunity under the Enhanced 911 Act even though an older statute, the Enhanced Medical Services Act, holds that 911 workers can be sued for damages caused by negligence.

The newer law addresses tort liability for agencies, employees and suppliers related to 911 infrastructure. The justices ruled that this law “has no relevance” to claims involving mishandled emergency calls.

The opinion, written by Justice Michael Vigil, stated: "… Important changes in statutory law are not generally made through inconspicuous means. … We cannot conclude that the Legislature would announce a new rule more broadly immunizing 911 dispatchers from liability except for intentional acts in the space of one phrase in a statute primarily addressing enhanced 911 infrastructure and funding that makes only isolated and generalized references to 911 dispatchers or their equivalents."

"We are very pleased with the Supreme Court’s ruling today," the family said through their legal counsel. "We will continue to seek justice on Isaac's behalf in this case, so that similar harms caused by errors and unnecessary communication barriers do not cause others to lose their lives or their loved ones."

The state Department of Public Safety declined to comment on the ruling. Attorneys for other defendants did not respond to queries Monday.

The lawsuit remains pending in U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico.