Opinion
Docket No. 19,065.
Filing Date: September 13, 1999. Certiorari denied, November 9, 1999.
APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF CURRY COUNTY, William P. Lynch, District Judge.
Jill Henson, Rowley Law Firm P.C., for Appellants. ELLEN S. CASEY, S. BARRY PAISNER, Hinkle, Cox, Eaton, Coffield Hensley, L.L.P., for Appellees. MARK B. STERN ROBERT M. LOEB, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Amicus Curiae for United States. CARL J. BUTKUS, Butkus Reimer, P.C., Amicus Curiae for John Raymond, et al.
OPINION
{1} On remand from the United States Supreme Court, we are asked to reconsider our decision in Whittington v. Department of Public Safety, 1998-NMCA-156, 126 N.M. 21, 966 P.2d 188, judgment vacated by New Mexico Dept. of Public Safety v. Whittington, 119 S.Ct. 2388 (1999), in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Alden v. Maine, 119 S.Ct. 2240 (1999). Upon doing so we now affirm the decision of the district court.
{2} On September 3, 1998, we held that the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution does not give the State of New Mexico Department of Public Safety (the Department) sovereign immunity from suit in state court for violations of the Fair labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. § 201-219 (1978). See generally Whittington, 1998-NMCA-156. Consequently, we reversed the district court's decision to dismiss the Appellants' suit against the Department. See id. ¶ 16. The New Mexico Supreme Court subsequently denied the Department's petition for a writ of certiorari, see Whittington v. Department of Public Safety, 126 N.M. 534, 972 P.2d 353 (1998), and the Department appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, see Whittington, 119 S.Ct. at 2388.
{3} The United States Supreme Court addressed the issues presented in Whittington in its decision in Alden. In Alden a group of probation officers sued the State of Maine in the United States District Court for allegedly violating the overtime provisions of the FLSA. 119 S.Ct. at 2246. The trial court dismissed the suit based on the state's Eleventh Amendment sovereign immunity and the Maine Supreme Judicial Court affirmed the trial court's decision. See id. Due to the importance of the issues presented in Alden, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. See Alden v. Maine, 119 S.Ct. 443 (1998); see also Alden, 119 S.Ct. at 2246. After an exhaustive examination of the origin and history of the Eleventh Amendment and sovereign immunity, the Supreme Court held "the powers delegated to Congress under Article I of the United States Constitution do not include the power to subject nonconsenting States to private suits for damages in state courts." See Alden, 119 S.Ct. at 2246.
{4} Because the Supreme Court, whose decisions binds us, has concluded that the Eleventh Amendment provides sovereign immunity to states from suit in state court, we vacate our decision inWhittington. We therefore affirm the decision of the district court dismissing the Appellants' suit against the Department.
{5} IT IS SO ORDERED.
A. JOSEPH ALARID, Judge
WE CONCUR: HARRIS L HARTZ, Judge MICHAEL D. BUSTAMANTE, Judge