Opinion ID: 1297060
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Right of Access to Courts

Text: Harrell argues that Section 22-10-17.1 unconstitutionally forecloses meaningful access to our state courts by not providing for de novo review by a district court following an adverse arbitration award. The right of access to the courts is one aspect of the right to petition the government for redress of grievances, as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and also is protected by the provisions protecting due process of law, as set out in the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and in Article II, Section 18, of the New Mexico Constitution. Richardson v. Carnegie Library Restaurant, Inc., 107 N.M. 688, 696, 763 P.2d 1153, 1161 (1988); Jiron v. Mahlab, 99 N.M. 425, 426, 659 P.2d 311, 312 (1983); see also Boddie v. Connecticut, 401 U.S. 371, 378, 91 S.Ct. 780, 786, 28 L.Ed.2d 113 (1971) (holding that Constitution requires `an opportunity ... granted at a meaningful time and a meaningful manner' ... `for [a] hearing appropriate to the nature of the case') (quoting Armstrong v. Manzo, 380 U.S. 545, 552, 85 S.Ct. 1187, 1191, 14 L.Ed.2d 62 (1965) and Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 313, 70 S.Ct. 652, 656-57, 94 L.Ed. 865 (1950)). A person's right of access to the courts may be satisfied by an evidentiary hearing which comports with the minimum requirements of due process. See Ortwein v. Shwab, 410 U.S. 656, 659-60, 93 S.Ct. 1172, 1174-75, 35 L.Ed.2d 572 (1973) (per curiam) (suggesting that alternative to judicial remedy, such as administrative hearing, may satisfy right of access). We therefore hold that Harrell's right of access to the courts was not denied by Section 22-10-17.1. Pursuant to that statute, Harrell had a full evidentiary hearing before an alternative forumthe arbitratorthat allowed him an opportunity to obtain redress of his grievances. Moreover, under our holding in Part IV infra, a litigant who finds unsatisfactory an arbitrator's award under Section 22-10-17.1 has the right to access the judicial branch of government to secure a determination whether the award is arbitrary, unlawful, unreasonable, capricious, or not supported by substantial evidence. The statutory scheme, as modified by this opinion, provides litigants with meaningful access to the courts. See Textile Workers Pension Fund v. Standard Dye & Finishing Co., 725 F.2d 843, 855 (2d Cir.) (where party in compulsory, binding arbitration may come to the district court to enforce, vacate or modify an arbitrator's award, [the party] is not denied meaningful access to the courts), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1259, 104 S.Ct. 3554, 82 L.Ed.2d 856 (1984); State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Broadnax, 827 P.2d 531, 537 (Colo.1992) (where party in compulsory, binding arbitration has right to judicial review of arbitration award under Uniform Arbitration Act standards, party is not denied right of access to courts).