OPINION BOSSON, Justice. {1} Defendant Michael Wilson was convicted by a jury in the suffocation death of a two-year-old foster child living in Defendant's Farmington home. Defendant appeals his conviction of one count of first-degree abuse of a child resulting in death either knowingly, intentionally, or negligently caused, contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-6-1(D), (H) (1973) (amended 2005). We have jurisdiction to hear his direct appeal under Article VI, Section 2 of the New Mexico...
OPINION PER CURIAM. {1} When the Legislature lawfully delegates authority to a state agency to promulgate rules and regulations, may a court intervene to halt proceedings before the agency adopts such rules or regulations This question is one of substantial public interest because court intervention in administrative proceedings before the adoption of rules or regulations may thwart the public's right to participate in such proceedings. We hold that a court may not intervene in...
OPINION BOSSON, Justice. {1} A jury awarded Plaintiff Suzanne Guest, an attorney, a multi-million-dollar verdict against her former client, Defendant Allstate Insurance Co. The jury found that Allstate had breached its contract to defend and indemnify Guest in a lawsuit that was filed against her and Allstate by a former insured of Allstate. The bulk of Guest's $1,800,000 compensatory damages award was for ten years worth of future earnings that she claimed Allstate would have paid her in...
OPINION BOSSON, Justice. {1} New Mexico law requires a trial judge to hold an evidentiary hearing to determine whether a juvenile, adjudicated as a youthful offender for having committed certain serious criminal offenses, is "amenable" to treatment or rehabilitation in juvenile facilities or should be sentenced to prison as an adult. See NMSA 1978, 32A-2-20 (1993) (amended 2009). Our courts have labored for years debating whether the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial requires the...
OPINION CH VEZ, Justice. {1} In this case, a private citizen is alleged to have opened a sealed container that contained a toolbox holding several opaque bundles. The private citizen did not open any of the opaque bundles. When a law enforcement officer who was made aware of the private search obtained possession of the resealed container, he accompanied a second private citizen who re-opened the sealed container. The officer then cut open an opaque bundle to confirm his suspicion that it...
OPINION SERNA, Justice. {1} In this case we consider the duty imposed on insurers to offer uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage under NMSA 1978, Section 66-5-301 (1983). We answer in the affirmative the question, certified to us by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, of whether the election by an insured to purchase UM/UIM coverage in an amount less than the policy liability limits constitutes a rejection of the maximum amount of UM/UIM coverage permitted...
OPINION DANIELS, Chief Justice. {1} The plaintiff insureds (Plaintiffs) in these three consolidated cases were issued uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage in amounts less than the liability coverage provided by their automobile insurance policies. See Progressive Nw. Ins. Co. v. Weed Warrior Servs., 2010-NMSC-050, 15, ___ N.M. ___, 245 P.3d 1209 (2010) (holding that New Mexico's uninsured motorist statute, NMSA 1978, Section 66-5-301 (1983), "requires an insurer to...
OPINION BOSSON, Justice. {1} Under State v. Ortega, 2008-NMCA-001, 16-27, 143 N.M. 261, 175 P.3d 929 , hearsay statements made to a nurse of the sexual assault nurse examiner program (SANE), during an examination of a victim of alleged sexual abuse, are rarely admissible at trial, even if some of those statements pertain to "medical diagnosis or treatment" under Rule 11-803(D) NMRA, and even if the declarant testifies at trial. We conclude that Ortega went too far in its hearsay...
OPINION CH VEZ, Justice. {1} In this case, it is alleged that a child was struck in the head by a baseball during pregame batting practice at Isotopes stadium. The child was seated in the picnic area beyond the left field wall in fair ball territory with his family for a pre-game Little League party. The child had just begun to eat his food when, without warning, pre-game batting practice began and a baseball struck him, fracturing his skull. Plaintiffs sued the Albuquerque Baseball Club,...
OPINION SERNA, Justice. {1} Pursuant to Rule 12-102(A)(1) NMRA, Christopher Branch (Defendant) is before this Court on direct appeal from his conviction for first-degree murder. He raises two issues on appeal: (1) whether the district court erred in admitting evidence of Defendant's prior conviction for robbery, and (2) whether the predicate felonies on which the jury was instructed constituted an impermissible variance to the indictment. We hold that the district court erred when it...
OPINION MAES, Justice. {1} Cleo Juan (Defendant) directly appeals her conviction for child abuse resulting in the death of a child under twelve years of age contrary to NMSA 1978, Section 30-6-1(D) (1973, prior to 2009 amendment), alleging that the trial court erred by (1) failing to provide an answer to the jury's question regarding the option of "hanging," (2) denying Defendant's request for a lesser included offense instruction on child abuse not resulting in the death of a child, (3)...
OPINION CH VEZ, Justice. {1} In this class action lawsuit, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants engaged in an agreement to fix the price of cigarettes from 1993 to 2000. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants, because although Plaintiffs offered evidence of parallel pricing, they failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact regarding whether any evidence, in addition to the parallel pricing, tended to exclude independent conduct on Defendants' part, as...
OPINION BOSSON, Justice. {1} A jury convicted Defendant David Mailman by a general verdict of driving while intoxicated (DWI) based on alternative theories of actually driving while intoxicated or being in actual physical control of a vehicle while intoxicated. Defendant appeals, arguing that his conviction must be reversed because his vehicle was inoperable and, therefore, he was not in actual physical control of it, and because there was insufficient evidence to convict him of actually...
OPINION MAES, Justice. {1} Cheryl Schultz (Petitioner) filed a workers' compensation complaint for medical benefits and survivor benefits on behalf of her deceased husband, Kevin Schultz (Worker). The Workers' Compensation Judge (WCJ) denied Petitioner's claims and Petitioner appealed. Four days before the filing deadline, Petitioner mailed her notice of appeal from Albuquerque to the Court of Appeals, but the notice of appeal was filed two days after the filing deadline. The WCJ granted...
OPINION MAES, Justice. {1} In this appeal, we must determine whether a state, county, or local peace officer, 1 who is not cross-commissioned with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or an Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo, see NMSA 1978, 29-1-11 (2005), has the authority to pursue an Indian into Indian country to investigate an off-reservation crime committed in the officer's presence. We conclude that state officers have the authority to enter Indian country to investigate off-...
