Opinion ID: 1197058
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Writs of Error and the Collateral Order Doctrine

Text: {7} As a general matter, this Court's appellate jurisdiction is limited to review of any final judgment or decision, any interlocutory order or decision which practically disposes of the merits of the action, or any final order after entry of judgment which affects substantial rights. NMSA 1978, § 39-3-2 (1966). The principle of finality serves a multitude of purposes, including the prevention of piecemeal appeals and the promotion of judicial economy. See Executive Sports Club, Inc. v. First Plaza Trust, 1998-NMSC-008, ¶ 11, 125 N.M. 78, 957 P.2d 63. Nonetheless, the principle of finality is neither absolute nor inflexible, id. ¶ 5, and is given a practical, rather than a technical, construction in order to promote meaningful appellate review without sacrificing judicial economy. Kelly Inn No. 102, Inc. v. Kapnison, 113 N.M. 231, 236, 240, 824 P.2d 1033, 1038, 1042 (1992). {8} There is no question that the district court's denial of UNM's motion for summary judgment is an interlocutory order which fails to dispose of the merits of the action and is, therefore, not a final decision for purposes of Section 39-3-2. See B.L. Goldberg & Assocs. v. Uptown, Inc., 103 N.M. 277, 278, 705 P.2d 683, 684 (1985) (For purposes of appeal, an order or judgment is not considered final unless all issues of law and fact have been determined and the case disposed of by the trial court to the fullest extent possible.). UNM, however, contends that an interlocutory determination of sovereign immunity for actions based on contract falls within the limited exception to the principle of finality known as the collateral order doctrine. {9} We recently examined the collateral order doctrine and its application in New Mexico. See Carrillo v. Rostro, 114 N.M. 607, 612-19, 845 P.2d 130, 135-42 (1992). In Carrillo, we explained that the collateral order doctrine, which was initially crafted by the United States Supreme Court in Cohen v. Beneficial Industrial Loan Corp., 337 U.S. 541, 545-47, 69 S.Ct. 1221, 93 L.Ed. 1528 (1949), is a narrow exception to the principle of finality that permits appellate review of orders implicat[ing] rights that will be irretrievably lost, absent immediate appeal and regardless of the outcome of an appeal from the final judgment. Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 614, 845 P.2d at 137. We noted that the collateral order doctrine has three requirements: (1) the order must finally determine the disputed question; (2) it must concern an issue that is entirely separate from the merits of the claim; and (3) there must be no effective remedy by appeal. Id. at 613, 845 P.2d at 136; accord Rule 12-503(E)(2). We concluded that the collateral order doctrine is consistent with the principle of finality expressed in Section 39-3-2 and adopted the doctrine, as well as the guidelines and criteria developed by the United States Supreme Court, to be applied procedurally in New Mexico through the writ of error. Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 616-17 & n. 9, 845 P.2d at 139-40 & n. 9. This case requires us to examine the applicability of the collateral order doctrine and writs of error as described in Carrillo to determinations of sovereign immunity under Section 37-1-23(A). {10} As we explained in Carrillo, the collateral order doctrine is a limited exception to the principle of finality. The three criteria outlined in Carrillo as preconditions to invoking the collateral order doctrine are necessary to prevent the interruption of trial court proceedings by any party claiming hardship because of postponement of reviewa result that the final-judgment rule seeks to prevent. Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 616, 845 P.2d at 139. In fact, we noted in Carrillo that many courts have severely limited application of the doctrine to avert piecemeal appeals becom[ing] the order of the day. Id. As a result of the potential for abuse of the doctrine, we established the writ of error as the appropriate procedural device to implement the collateral order doctrine to ensur[e] that review under the ... doctrine occurs only when justified. Id. We now clarify that the three criteria for application of the doctrine should serve as a guide in deciding whether to issue a writ of error in this context. Thus, a petitioner for writ of error must demonstrate, beyond error in the district court, that the impugned order conclusively determines a disputed issue that is entirely separate from the merits of the action and that would be effectively unreviewable from a final judgment. See Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 613, 845 P.2d at 136. {11} We believe that determinations with respect to sovereign immunity from actions based on contract generally meet the three criteria discussed in Carrillo. The first two criteria are relatively straightforward in this case. Typically, determinations concerning immunity under Section 37-1-23(A) will finally resolve the issue of governmental immunity and will be separate from and collateral to the merits of the action. Cf. Mitchell v. Forsyth, 472 U.S. 511, 527, 105 S.Ct. 2806, 86 L.Ed.2d 411 (1985) (stating that a determination of qualified immunity easily meets these requirements and that a claim of immunity is conceptually distinct from the merits of the plaintiff's claim). {12} The third criterion, whether an order would be effectively unreviewable on appeal from a final judgment, is somewhat more ambiguous. In Allen v. Board of Education, 106 N.M. 673, 674, 748 P.2d 516, 517 (Ct.App.1987), a defendant sought direct appeal of the trial court's denial of a motion for summary judgment based on sovereign immunity under the Tort Claims Act, NMSA 1978, § 41-4-1 to -29 (1976, as amended through 1999). The Court of Appeals addressed an argument analogous to UNM's that determinations concerning immunity under the Tort Claims Act fall within the limited collateral order exception. Id. at 674-75, 748 P.2d at 517-18. Although the Court of Appeals did not yet have the benefit of our opinion in Carrillo, the Court ultimately determined that it was unnecessary to reach the issue of the applicability of the collateral order doctrine in New Mexico. Id. at 675, 748 P.2d at 518. The Court of Appeals, instead, explained that [a] distinction has been drawn between ` immunity from suit rather than a mere defense to liability' because, `like an absolute immunity, it is effectively lost if a case is erroneously permitted to go to trial.' Id. (quoting Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806). Relying on the language of the grant of immunity in the Tort Claims Act, which provides only immunity from liability, NMSA 1978, § 41-4-4(A) (1999), the Court of Appeals concluded that interlocutory orders concerning immunity under Section 41-4-4(A) fail to meet[ ] the requirements for immediate appellate review under the collateral order exception based on absolute immunity from suit. Allen, 106 N.M. at 675, 748 P.2d at 518. {13} In Carrillo, we discussed the reasoning of the Court of Appeals in Allen and reiterated the significance of the distinction between immunity from suit and immunity from liability. Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 614, 845 P.2d at 137; accord Carmona v. Hagerman Irrig. Co., 1998-NMSC-007, n. 5, 125 N.M. 59, 957 P.2d 44. We concluded in Carrillo that qualified immunity under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (1994) constitutes immunity from suit because it is `an entitlement not to stand trial or face the other burdens of litigation, conditioned on the resolution of the essentially legal question whether the conduct of which the plaintiff complains violated clearly established law.' Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 615, 845 P.2d at 138 (quoting Mitchell, 472 U.S. at 526, 105 S.Ct. 2806). {14} In deciding whether determinations of immunity from actions based on contract affect rights that will be irretrievably lost, absent immediate review and regardless of the outcome of an appeal from the final judgment, ... the essence of the collateral order doctrine, Carrillo, 114 N.M. at 614, 845 P.2d at 137, we rely on the reasoning of Allen and Carrillo concerning the distinction between immunity from suit and immunity from liability and the importance of legislative intent. Unlike the Legislature's grant of immunity from liability under the Tort Claims Act discussed in Allen, the Legislature has provided that [g]overnmental entities are granted immunity from actions based on contract, except actions based on a valid written contract. Section 37-1-23(A) (emphasis added). The plain language of Section 37-1-23(A), by granting immunity from actions based on unwritten contracts, suggests a legislative intent to establish an entitlement on the part of the government not to stand trial or face the other burdens of litigation for actions based on unwritten contracts. See Whitely v. New Mexico State Personnel Bd., 115 N.M. 308, 311, 850 P.2d 1011, 1014 (1993) (stating that the plain language of the statute [is] the primary indicator of legislative intent). Similarly, we have previously held that the issue of governmental immunity [under Section 37-1-23(A)] is jurisdictional in nature, Spray v. City of Albuquerque, 94 N.M. 199, 201, 608 P.2d 511, 513 (1980), and that one of the purposes of immunity for actions based on unwritten contracts rests on the difficulty of determining, without reference to a written instrument, whether a governmental agency is authorized to enter into the contract, see Garcia v. Middle Rio Grande Conservancy Dist., 1996-NMSC-029, ¶ 17, 121 N.M. 728, 918 P.2d 7. We determine, then, that Section 37-1-23(A) protects the important governmental interest of avoiding the burdens of a trial on the merits and that this interest will otherwise evade meaningful appellate review absent application of the collateral order doctrine. Thus, we conclude that interlocutory determinations concerning sovereign immunity under Section 37-1-23(A), contrary to determinations of sovereign immunity under the Tort Claims Act, are generally subject to the collateral order doctrine.