Nonprofit group discloses hefty trial lawyer contributions after settlement agreement

SANTA FE — A nonprofit group that has advocated against changes to New Mexico’s medical malpractice laws disclosed nearly $1.3 million in contributions Monday after reaching a settlement agreement with the State Ethics Commission.

The list of donors to the group, called New Mexico Safety Over Profit, is made up almost entirely of trial lawyers, according to a Journal review. Most of the more than 50 contributors are from New Mexico, though a smaller number are from out of state.

That includes the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association, which gave $245,000 over the last four-plus years, and Iowa-based trial lawyer Nicholas Rowley, who gave $425,000 during the same time period.

The settlement was announced about two months after the State Ethics Commission filed a lawsuit against New Mexico Safety Over Profit, arguing the group had violated state lobbying laws by refusing to register with the Secretary of State’s Office and disclose both its donors and expenditures.

Under the terms of the settlement, which resolves the lawsuit, the group agreed to pay a $5,000 fine — the maximum allowable under state law. It also agreed to disclose its expenditures and contributions made during an advertising campaign in the run-up to this year’s legislative session that included full-page newspaper ads and social media posts.

In addition, the group released its full list of donors going back to 2021, a step that exceeded the settlement agreement’s disclosure requirements.

Feliz Rael, an Albuquerque attorney and president of the group’s board, said Monday the group remains confident it did not violate the state’s Lobbyist Reporting Act and pointed out the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing.

While a spokesman previously insisted the group did not need to disclose the names of its members, Rael sounded a different tone Monday, saying, “We have nothing to hide and are proud to disclose our donors.” A list of donors was also added to the group’s website.

She also said the group chose not to litigate the case to avoid a protracted legal battle.

“Litigating would have been an unnecessary use of time and resources for both our organization and for taxpayers,” Rael said in a statement.

Amelia Bierle, the State Ethics Commission’s deputy director, described the settlement as a “significant outcome” for state residents whose trust in the legislative process depends on transparency and fairness.

“The people of New Mexico have a right to know who is trying to shape public policy in our state, and this case demonstrates the Lobbyist Regulation Act working as intended — requiring organizations that conduct lobbying-related advertising campaigns to register and disclose their spending and funding sources,” Bierle said in a statement.

New Mexico’s medical malpractice laws have emerged in recent years as a hot-button political issue amid a longstanding health care provider shortage, especially in rural parts of the state.

Critics argue the state’s current laws, which were overhauled during the 2021 legislative session and later tweaked, have led to skyrocketing legal insurance costs and have prompted some providers to leave the state.

Those concerns have prompted proposals to change the law, primarily by limiting attorney fees in medical malpractice case. A bill proposed during this year’s 60-day session was thwarted on a 5-4 vote in its first assigned Senate committee amid opposition from trial lawyers and patients harmed in medical malpractice cases.

Fred Nathan, the executive director of Think New Mexico, a Santa Fe-based think tank that has pushed for changes to the medical malpractice laws, said the settlement agreement sheds more light on New Mexico Safety Over Profit’s mission and background.

“Thanks to the New Mexico Ethics Commission, the public now knows that this dark money group, calling itself Safety over Profits and posing as a group of regular New Mexicans who oppose medical malpractice reform, is entirely funded by trial lawyers, their law firms and is actually nothing more than a front group for the trial lawyers,” Nathan said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Safety Over Profit said in a Monday statement it planned to continue fighting for the rights of New Mexicans and demanding accountability from “negligent corporations.”

The group describes itself on its website as a “network of individuals and families harmed by big corporations, institutions and profit-driven systems.”