Opinion ID: 215429
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Filed rate doctrine precluded Plaintiffs' claims for damages generally

Text: New Mexico's filed rate doctrine provides that any filed ratethat is, one approved by the governing regulatory agency[is] per se reasonable and unassailable in judicial proceedings brought by ratepayers. Valdez v. State, 132 N.M. 667, 54 P.3d 71, 74-75 (2002) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted); see also Summit Props., Inc. v. Pub. Serv. Co. of N.M., 138 N.M. 208, 118 P.3d 716, 723-24 (2005). [T]he heart of the filed rate doctrine is not that the rate mirrors a competitive market, nor that the rate is reasonable or thoroughly researched, it is that the filed rate is the only legal rate. Valdez, 54 P.3d at 75. The policy behind the filed rate doctrine is to prevent price discrimination[,] to preserve the role of agencies in approving rates and to keep courts out of the rate-making process. Id. This doctrine precluded Plaintiffs' claims against the Insurer Defendants for damages relief, including claims seeking restitution, recovery for unjust enrichment and disgorgement of the excessive amounts these Insurer Defendants charged for title insurance premiums sold at the rate set by the superintendent of insurance. See id. at 74-75 (holding filed rate doctrine precluded claims for damages challenging rates for collect telephone calls made from state prisons, which were set by the PRC and were higher than those charged to the public generally). [9]