Court Opinion

ID: 9574132
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:02:35.329991+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:07.992467
License: Public Domain

RANSOM, Justice (dissenting). This Court today holds that an appeal from the final order of an administrative agency is necessarily the point at which the judicial branch gains jurisdiction. I agree. At that point, procedural law becomes vested in this Court by virtue of Article VI, Section 3 (superintending control), and Article III, Section 1 (separation of powers), of the New Mexico Constitution. In Southwest Community Health Services v. Smith, 107 N.M. 196, 198, 755 P.2d 40, 42 (1988), the 1976 rule of Ammerman v. Hubbard Broadcasting, Inc., with which I remain in strong accord, was reiterated by us as follows: Pleading, practice and procedure are of the essence of judicial power. Functions of the judiciary which are essential to its constitutional powers cannot be exercised by another branch of the government in conflict with the judicial branch. While, historically, the judiciary has shared procedural rule-making with the legislature, any conflict between court rules and statutes that relate to procedure are today resolved by this Court in favor of the rules. This Court, however, has no superintending control over administrative agencies. That is the essence of legislative and executive power. Any conflict between court rule and statute that relates to administrative procedure must be resolved in favor of the statute. It is clear to me that the judicial branch does not gain jurisdiction and control until the final order of an administrative agency is appealed as provided by statute. Accordingly, I would hold that the worker’s appeal was timely under the statute, that the court of appeals failed to exercise the jurisdiction given it by the legislature in the appeal of administrative orders, and that the case be remanded to the court of appeals to be decided on its merits.