Opinion ID: 2767550
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Certification to the New Mexico Supreme Court

Text: Saveraid argues that all of the issues in this case are questions of first impression for New Mexico. Thus, she asks us to reverse the district court’s order the liability coverage from Saveraid’s policy counts as Hall’s liability coverage (with Hall as the tortfeasor) and would offset her UIM benefits. -18- granting summary judgment to State Farm and certify this case in its entirety to the New Mexico Supreme Court. We decline. Tenth Circuit Rule 27.1(A) governs the certification of state-law questions. It provides that “[w]hen state law permits, this court may: (1) certify a question arising under state law to that state’s highest court according to that court’s rules; and (2) abate the case in this court to await the state court’s decision of the certified question.” 10th Cir. R. 27.1(A). New Mexico permits its Supreme Court to “answer a question of law certified to it by a court of the United States . . . if the answer may be determinative of an issue in pending litigation in the certifying court and there is no controlling appellate decision, constitutional provision or statute of this state.” N.M. Stat. Ann. § 39-7-4 (2014). This case does not raise any novel issues of state law that the New Mexico Supreme Court has not already addressed. “[W]e will not trouble our sister state courts every time an arguably unsettled question of state law comes across our desks. When we see a reasonably clear and principled course, we will seek to follow it ourselves.” Pino v. United States, 507 F.3d 1233, 1236 (10th Cir. 2007). Both of the issues on appeal have reasonably clear courses that we can follow. The first issue, dealing with the anti-stacking provisions, has already been resolved by Shope and confirmed by Wilkeson. The second issue, involving the reformation of UIM benefits under Jordan, similarly does not involve any novel -19- issues of state law. We can avoid the question of whether the rule set forth in Jordan amounts to a fundamental principle of justice by looking at the specific facts of this case. Based on these facts, we can apply settled New Mexico state law to decide the case on the merits. Therefore, we deny Saveraid’s request to certify any of these issues to the New Mexico Supreme Court.