NM Stat § 42-6-12 (2021)
2021 New Mexico Statutes|Chapter 42 - Actions and Proceedings Relating to Property|Article 6 - Quieting Title|Section 42-6-12 - [Consent of state in quiet title and foreclosure suits.]

Upon the conditions herein prescribed for the protection of the state of New Mexico, the consent of the state is given to be named a party in any suit which is now pending or which may hereafter be brought in any court of competent jurisdiction of the state to quiet title to or for the foreclosure of a mortgage or other lien upon real estate or personal property, for the purpose of securing an adjudication touching any mortgage or other lien the state may have or claim on the premises or personal property involved. History: 1941 Comp., § 25-1312, enacted by Laws 1947, ch. 150, § 1; 1953 Comp., § 22-14-12. ANNOTATIONSPurpose of section. — This section was enacted for the limited purpose of aiding a mortgagee who discovers that the state has acquired an interest in the mortgaged property and is unable to pass a marketable title to the purchaser at a foreclosure sale unless the state can be joined in the foreclosure suit. Maes v. Old Lincoln Cnty. Mem. Comm'n, 1958-NMSC-115, 64 N.M. 475, 330 P.2d 556. No omnibus legislative consent to sue state. — The supreme court finds no omnibus legislative consent to bring suit against the state to quiet title. Maes v. Old Lincoln Cnty. Mem. Comm'n, 1958-NMSC-115, 64 N.M. 475, 330 P.2d 556. Limited waiver of immunity does not include actions to quiet title. — In consolidated cases where plaintiffs filed complaints to quiet title to real property, and named defendants, each a political subdivision of the state, as parties who may claim an adverse interest in the respective properties, and where defendants filed motions to dismiss, claiming that 42-11-1 NMSA 1978 prohibited naming defendants as parties in an action to quiet title because they were political subdivisions of the state, the court of appeals properly ordered dismissal of the actions, because in enacting 42-11-1 NMSA 1978, the legislature intended to grant broad immunity to the state and its political subdivisions, and although this section provides a limited waiver of sovereign immunity, it does not include actions to quiet title. Nash v. Board of Cnty. Comm'rs of Catron Cnty., 2021-NMSC-005, aff'g 2019-NMCA-044. Waiver of immunity does not authorize quiet title suits under the circumstances of this case. — Where, in two separate quiet title lawsuits, plaintiffs named the county of Valencia and the board of county commissioners of Catron county as parties who claimed or may claim an interest in the subject properties, and where the counties responded by filing motions to dismiss on the ground that 42-11-1 NMSA 1978 provided them with immunity and barred the lawsuits, the New Mexico court of appeals held that 42-11-1 NMSA 1978 controls and acts as a bar to quiet title suits against the state and its political subdivisions unless specifically authorized by law, and that this section's limited purpose of aiding a mortgagee where the state has acquired an interest in the mortgaged property and the mortgagee is unable to pass marketable title to the purchaser at a foreclosure sale unless the state can be joined in the foreclosure suit does not provide a statutory exception to the counties' immunity. Belen Consol. Sch. Dist. v. Valencia Cty. and Nash v. Bd. of Cty. Comm'rs, 2019-NMCA-044, cert. granted.Section does not statutorily create sovereign immunity in quiet title actions against the state, as there are presently in New Mexico no conditions or circumstances that could rationally support the doctrine of sovereign immunity. Brosseau v. N.M. State Hwy. Dep't, 1978-NMSC-098, 92 N.M. 328, 587 P.2d 1339 (decided before enactment of Section 42-11-1 NMSA 1978). State armory board, as agency of state, is immune from suit to quiet title to property city had leased to board before city filed certificate of abandonment of property for purpose for which it had been condemned. Nevares v. State Armory Bd., 1969-NMSC-144, 81 N.M. 268, 466 P.2d 114.