Court Opinion

ID: 9541579
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:26:48.508931+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:03:49.354590
License: Public Domain

ALARID, Judge (specially concurring). {41} I am unable to find a clear message in New Mexico cases discussing summary judgment standards in the aftermath of Anderson and Celotex, two controversial federal summary judgment cases. My review of New Mexico decisions indicates that Anderson and Celotex have been cited in seven reported appellate decisions. While Celotex’s holding concerning the movant’s initial burden is not directly implicated in the present ease, I have surveyed New Mexico cases citing either Anderson or Celotex because I believe they are equally indicative of a tendency to treat federal and state summary judgment standards as interchangeable. {42} In Furgason v. Clausen, 109 N.M. 331, 785 P.2d 242 (Ct.App.1989), we acknowledged that in the wake of Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 94 S.Ct. 2997, 41 L.Ed.2d 789 (1974), a plaintiff who is a public figure must establish by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with actual malice, whereas a plaintiff who is not a public figure must merely establish that the defendant negligently failed to check the truth or falsity of the communication prior to publication. Furgason, 109 N.M. at 337-39, 785 P.2d at 248-50. In reversing the grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendant, we cited Anderson without any qualifying signal as direct support for the proposition that “[a] motion for summary judgment in a defamation action necessarily involves determination of the substantive evidentiary standard of proof that would apply at a trial on the merits.” Furgason, 109 N.M. at 339, 785 P.2d at 250. {43} In Blauwkamp v. University of New Mexico Hospital, 114 N.M. 228, 836 P.2d 1249, (Ct.App.1992), we held that the defendants in a medical malpractice action could establish a prima facie case of entitlement to summary judgment merely by pointing out that the plaintiff lacked an expert witness and without the necessity of presenting an affidavit by their own expert. We discussed Celotex, holding that “on these facts Celotex and existing New Mexico cases produce the same result.” Blauwkamp, 114 N.M. at 232, 836 P.2d at 1253. {44} More recently, in Wolford v. Lasater, 1999-NMCA-024, 126 N.M. 614, 973 P.2d 866, we considered whether differences in federal and state summary judgment standards would justify denying preclusive effect to a summary judgment granted in federal court. In Wolford, the plaintiff, citing Anderson, argued that the trial court should have refused to give preclusive effect to a prior federal summary judgment because plaintiff “had a significantly heavier burden of persuasion with respect to the issue in the initial action than in the subsequent action.” Wolford, 1999-NMCA-024, ¶ 5, 126 N.M. 614, 973 P.2d 866 (quoting Restatement (Second) of Judgments § 28(4) (1980)). We rejected this argument, stating that “[w]e agree with Defendants’ argument that the federal and our own state’s constructions of summary judgment do not differ substantively.” Wolford, 1999-NMCA-024, ¶ 11, 126 N.M. 614, 973 P.2d 866. {45} A review of New Mexico Supreme Court decisions indicates that our Supreme Court has cited Celotex or Anderson in four cases: Eojf, discussed in the majority opinion; Goradia v. Hahn Co., 111 N.M. 779, 810 P.2d 798 (1991); Paca v. K-Mart Corp., 108 N.M. 479, 775 P.2d 245 (1989) and Peck v. Title USA Ins. Corp., 108 N.M. 30, 766 P.2d 290 (1988). In Peck and Paca the Supreme Court, employing the introductory signal, “see also ” cited Celotex for the unexceptional proposition that summary judgment is appropriate where there are no genuine issues of material fact. I find Goradia to be the most interesting of the post-Anderson/Celotex cases. {46} In my view, Goradia represents a significant move towards adoption of Justice Ransom’s special concurrence in Eojf. Unlike Eojf, which was decided based on the movant’s failure to make out a prima facie case of entitlement to summary judgment, Goradia was decided based on the non-movant’s failure to meet his burden in responding to a motion for summary judgment. In Goradia, the Supreme Court described the applicable standard: If from the facts presented, “but one reasonable conclusion” can be drawn, Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250 [106 S.Ct. 2505], then summary judgment must be granted. Only if a fair minded factfinder, on the facts presented in [defendant’s] motion, could return a verdict for [plaintiff] can [defendant’s] motion be denied. See, e.g., Chen v. Metropolitan Ins. and Annuity Co., 907 F.2d 566, 567 (5th Cir.1990) (construing Anderson). Goradia, 111 N.M. at 782, 810 P.2d at 801 (parallel citation omitted). Goradia’s fair-minded-juror summary judgment standard mirrors New Mexico’s directed verdict standard. See Eoff, 109 N.M. at 702, 789 P.2d at 1269 (Ransom, J., specially concurring) (motion for directed verdict must be denied where sufficient evidence has been introduced to allow reasonable juror to find in plaintiffs favor under applicable burden of proof). The Goradia court’s reliance on the Chen decision further supports the conclusion that the Goradia court was moving toward equating summary judgment and directed verdict standards. In Chen, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit described the non-movant’s burden as follows: When [plaintiffs] received [defendant’s] motion for summary judgment, they bore the onus of establishing that some fact issue existed showing that the insured’s death was accidental. The [plaintiffs] were entitled to the trial court’s indulging in their favor all reasonable inferences proceeding from the facts before it. If a fair minded jury, on the facts presented in the motion, could have returned a verdict for the [plaintiffs], then the judge is required to deny the motion for summary judgment. The motion for summary judgment involves two competing interests: the [plaintiffs], asserting that their claim is adequately based in fact; and the insurer’s defense that the [plaintiffs’] claim has no basis in fact. The trial court’s obligation is to give due regard to both interests, and the trial judge is not to determine whether in his opinion the contradictory evidence favors one side or the other. Chen, 907 F.2d at 567-68 (citations to Anderson and Celotex omitted) (emphasis added). Chen’s fair-minded-jury-could-have-returned-a-verdict summary judgment standard is remarkably similar to the directed verdict standard described by Justice Ransom’s concurrence in Eojf. {47} Express adoption of Anderson would affect summary judgment practice in two important ways. First, it would eliminate any question as to whether the standards for deciding summary judgments and directed verdict motions are the same. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 250-51, 106 S.Ct. 2505. Second, it would require consideration of the applicable burden of proof in the context of summary judgment. See Anderson, 477 U.S. at 252-55, 106 S.Ct. 2505. {48} By the time a case gets to the summary judgment phase, the litigants will have had the benefit of our liberal discovery provisions. If a party needs additional time to respond to a premature motion for summary judgment, Rule 1-056(F) authorizes trial courts to grant continuances to enable nonmovants to develop evidence to oppose summary judgment. The point of summary judgment seems to me to be to weed out those cases in which a party’s case is so weak that no rational jury could return a verdict in that party’s favor. If the evidence a party has on hand to respond to a motion for summary judgment is too weak to prove its case at trial, how does that same evidence justify empaneling a jury? What process occurs subsequent to summary judgment and prior to trial to transform this inadequate evidence into a submissible case ? Anderson gives content to the term “genuine issue” by directly relating this term to the non-movant’s burden at trial. {49} Moreover, I believe that the majority overstates the difficulties in applying Anderson. In particular, I do not accept the premise that adoption of Anderson would embroil trial courts in impermissible “weighing” of the evidence. When a trial court rules on a motion for directed verdict or a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, it must evaluate the evidence under the relevant burden of proof. When we review the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a criminal conviction or a judgment terminating parental rights, we review the evidence in the light of heightened burdens of proof. It is clear, however, that regardless of the applicable burden of proof, in each of these contexts the court does not weigh the evidence in the sense of deciding credibility or assigning relative values to conflicting evidence. If courts did not consider the varying burdens of proof in reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence supporting a party’s case, these varying burdens of proof could simply be disregarded by the factfinder. I believe that trial courts are capable of making the same type of distinctions we make in substantial evidence review, or that trial courts themselves routinely make in ruling on motions for a directed verdict, when they rule on motions for summary judgment. {50} Based on my review of the record, I believe that application of Anderson would likely be outcome-determinative in the present case. Cf. In re Estate of Gersbach, 1998-NMSC-013, 125 N.M. 269, 960 P.2d 811 (reversing trial court finding of undue influence on ground that evidence was insufficient to enable reasonable factfinder to find by clear and convincing evidence that testator made a gift he would not have made absent improper influence). Nevertheless, I have chosen to specially concur rather than to dissent because I believe that the dispositive question on appeal is whether our Supreme Court has, in fact, adopted the federal standards, and not whether New Mexico’s traditional standards represent the better approach. If our Supreme Court has adopted Anderson and Celotex, we should apply their standards to this case. If the Supreme Court has not, adoption of the federal standards is tantamount to substantially rewriting Rule 1-056, and therefore is beyond the authority of this Court. See Tafoya v. S & S Plumbing Co., 97 N.M. 249, 252, 638 P.2d 1094, 1097 (Ct. App.1981). While I am less confident than the other members of the panel that New Mexico still clings to its pm-Anderson!Celotex summary judgment standards, I concur in the result reached because of my belief that adoption of Anderson or Celotex should be accomplished, if at all, by express directive of our Supreme Court.