Townsend v. State ex rel. State Hwy. Dept

26 Citing cases

  1. Ortiz v. N.M. Dep't of Cultural Affairs

    No. CIV 16-1396 JB/JHR (D.N.M. Jan. 31, 2018)

    Inverse condemnation is the appropriate and exclusive remedy for a trespass action against a state entity authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain. Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 1994-NMSC-014, ¶ 6, 871 P.2d 958, 960. In New Mexico, both the state constitution and statutes govern a state's taking through its eminent domain powers.

  2. Hendrickson v. AFSCME Council 18

    992 F.3d 950 (10th Cir. 2021)   Cited 49 times
    Holding a governor was entitled to sovereign immunity because she did not have "a particular duty to enforce the challenged statute," and her connection to the statute "stem[med] from [her] general enforcement power"

    This is so because "a contract incorporates the relevant law in force at the time of its creation." Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't , 117 N.M. 302, 871 P.2d 958, 960 (1994) ; see Crow v. Capitol Bankers Life Ins. Co. , 119 N.M. 452, 891 P.2d 1206, 1211 (1995) ("Under traditional contract theory, state laws are incorporated into and form a part of every contract whether or not they are specifically mentioned in the instrument.").See also Norfolk & W. Ry. Co. v. Am. Train Dispatchers’ Ass'n , 499 U.S. 117, 130, 111 S.Ct. 1156, 113 L.Ed.2d 95 (1991) ("Laws which subsist at the time and place of the making of a contract ... form a part of it, as fully as if they had been expressly referred to or incorporated in its terms."

  3. Price v. Whitten

    CIV 20-1099 RB/KRS (D.N.M. Aug. 18, 2021)   Cited 3 times

    (Doc. 4 at 13 (citing Townsend v. New Mexico ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 871 P.2d 958 (N.M. 1994)).) In Townsend, the plaintiff brought claims for trespass and conversion under the NMTCA against the New Mexico state highway department and its commissioner of public lands.

  4. Ortiz v. N.M. Dep't of Cultural Affairs

    CIV 16-01396 JB/JHR (D.N.M. Dec. 13, 2017)

    Therefore, the appropriate and exclusive remedy for Plaintiffs' trespass and conversion claims against these defendants is inverse condemnation under Section 42A-1-29. See Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 1994-NMSC-014, ¶ 6, 117 N.M. 302, 303-4, 871 P.2d 958 (stating that inverse condemnation is the appropriate and exclusive remedy for a trespass action against a state entity authorized to exercise the power of eminent domain). To the extent that Plaintiffs have attempted to make a claim against the individual defendants for inverse condemnation, such claims should also be dismissed for failure to state a claim, because a claim for inverse condemnation is based on the government's power of eminent domain, a power which private individuals do not have. United Water New Mexico, Inc. v. New Mexico Pub. Util. Comm'n, 1996-NMSC-007, ¶ 15, 121 N.M. 272, 276, 910 P.2d 906, 910 ("Condemnation, or eminent domain, is the process by which a sovereign exercises the power to 'take' private property for public purposes subject to the constitutional requirement that just compensation be paid to the owner....") (quoting Forest Preserve Dist. of DuPage County v. Brookwood Land Venture, 229 Ill.App.3d 978, 172 Ill.Dec. 73, 77-78, 595 N.E.2d 136, 140-41 (

  5. Rowland v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs for Cnty. of Curry

    Civ. No. 20-646 GBW/SMV (D.N.M. Sep. 24, 2020)   Cited 1 times

    Where a claim is based on several injuries, the statute of limitations begins to run for each injury at the time that it occurred. Townsend v. New Mexico ex rel. N.M. Highway Dept., 871 P.2d 958, 962 (N.M. 1994). Plaintiff's first claim (for negligence) relates specifically and exclusively to the hostage situation occurring on or about February 1, 2018.

  6. Ortiz v. N.M. Dep't of Cultural Affairs

    CIV 16-1396 JB/JHR (D.N.M. Jan. 5, 2018)   Cited 1 times

    The appropriate and exclusive remedy for trespass and conversion claims against state entities with eminent domain power is inverse condemnation under NMSA 1978, § 42A-1-29. See Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 1994-NMSC-014, ¶ 6, 117 N.M. 302, 303-4, 871 P.2d 958. In other words, Plaintiffs' trespass and conversion claims would be converted into an inverse condemnation claim if the defendant was a state entity exercising eminent domain powers; otherwise the same factual allegations that comprise Plaintiffs' trespass and conversion claims would also comprise Plaintiffs' allegations for a Takings claim.

  7. Hem v. Toyota Motor Corp.

    Civ. 09-888 MCA (D.N.M. Dec. 3, 2015)

    Therefore, according to Attorneys, it was Gutierrez's gloss on Article IV, § 32 that would have been incorporated into the parties' agreement under the principle that a contract incorporates the law existing "atthe time of its creation." Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 117 N.M. 302, 304 (1994) (emphasis added). This argument is undercut by the fact that State v. State Investment Company, 30 N.M. 491 (1925), was also part of New Mexico law in 2009.

  8. Harvey E. Yates Co. v. Cimarex Energy Co.

    No. Civ. 12-857 JH/SMV (D.N.M. Mar. 5, 2014)   Cited 3 times

    Real property in the form of mineral rights is transformed into personal property when the physical substance is severed from the land, and the wrongful taking of that substance constitutes conversion. Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dept., 1994-NMSC-014, ¶ 4, 117 N.M. 302, 871 P.2d 958. To establish conversion, a plaintiff must prove "wrongful possession, or of the exercise of a dominion over it in exclusion or defiance of the owner's right, or of an unauthorized and injurious use, or of a wrongful detention after demand."

  9. Miller v. Duggers Tow Yard

    No. CIV-10-171WPJ/LFG (D.N.M. Feb. 27, 2012)   Cited 1 times

    VIII. Miller has asserted a state-law claim for conversion against Barreras. Citing only a case in which the plaintiff brought an action for trespass and conversion against the New Mexico state highway department and its commissioner of public lands that was dismissed because the plaintiff's "claims for trespass and conversion are not torts for which immunity has been waived by the Act," Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dep't, 117 N.M. 302, 304, 871 P.2d 958, 960 (1994), the City contends that Miller "cannot maintain a claim for conversion against City Defendants." Doc. 124 at 21.

  10. Bress v. Albuquerque Police Officers

    No. CIV 10-1250 RB/DJS (D.N.M. May. 5, 2011)   Cited 1 times

    See §§ 41-4-5 to -12. Townsend v. State ex rel. State Highway Dept., 117 N.M. 302, 304, 871 P.2d 958, 960 (1994). Moreover, Ms. Bress alleged, in the Complaint, that Deputy Rivas was dispatched to 726 Arenal Road SW in response to Ms. Bress' 911 call.