NM Supreme Court rules venue shopping not allowed in state civil rights lawsuits

SANTA FE — When it comes to alleged state civil rights violations, what happens in Roswell stays in Chaves County.

In a unanimous opinion, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that venue shopping, or filing court cases in a different location, is not allowed under the landmark 2021 Civil Rights Act.

The state’s highest court also ordered a state judge in Santa Fe to dismiss for improper venue a lawsuit filed against the city of Roswell by family members and legal representatives of a 20-year old man shot to death by Roswell police officers in January 2023.

The officers were responding to reports of a domestic disturbance involving Nikolas Acosta when the fatal shooting took place.

The Supreme Court said in its opinion at least four civil rights lawsuits have been filed in the Santa Fe-based 1st Judicial District Court against cities or counties located outside the district. While some of those cases were dismissed by judges due to jurisdictional issues, the case that prompted the Supreme Court opinion was initially allowed to proceed.

Supreme Court Chief Justice David Thomson wrote in the Wednesday opinion the number of civil rights cases filed in New Mexico courts involving such venue issues is likely to increase.

“The historic ubiquity of federal civil rights claims against law enforcement officers, coupled with the (New Mexico Civil Rights Act’s) requirement that only a public body may be sued under the NMCRA, virtually guarantees that municipalities (and counties) will be regularly named as NMCRA defendants due to the alleged actions of their officer-employees,” Thomson wrote in the opinion, which was issued three months after an initial court order in the case.

Attorneys representing the family members and estate of Acosta could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

The state Civil Rights Act was approved by lawmakers in 2021 and was prompted by protests against racism and police misconduct following the 2020 death of George Floyd. It effectively eliminated qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that law enforcement officers can claim when accused of possible misconduct.

The legislation was opposed at the time of its approval by New Mexico cities and counties, along with some law enforcement officials, who expressed concern it could expose taxpayers to expensive settlements and lead to higher insurance costs.

Prior to lawmakers approving the 2021 law, lawsuits alleging civil rights violations in New Mexico could only be filed in federal court, not in state court.

This week’s Supreme Court ruling is the second precedent-setting opinion about the Civil Rights Act to be issued by the court in the last month. A June opinion established that agencies can be immune from legal liability for certain disciplinary actions they take.

Meanwhile, filing lawsuits in courts located far from where an incident occurred is allowed in some types of civil cases.

For instance, a jury in Santa Fe awarded $165 million in damages against FedEx in 2015 in a wrongful death lawsuit. That case stemmed from a 2011 crash outside of Las Cruces that killed an El Paso woman and her daughter and left her young son critically injured.