Court Opinion

ID: 9553912
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:37:19.376766+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:32:34.058448
License: Public Domain

DONNELLY, Chief Judge (concurring in part and dissenting in part). I respectfully dissent from the majority decision which construes the ruling in Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985) to have retroactive application in the present case. I concur with that portion of the majority opinion that determines that under the United States Supreme Court decision in Wilson, the applicable New Mexico statute of limitations governing actions grounded upon alleged violations of civil rights under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, et seq. (1982), is three years. See NMSA 1978, § 37-1-4. My disagreement with the majority opinion concerns the issue of whether the ruling in Wilson should be applied retroactively. In DeVargas v. State, 97 N.M. 563, 642 P.2d 166 (1982), the New Mexico Supreme Court held that the two-year statute of limitations under the State Tort Claims Act was the controlling statute of limitations. Wilson overturned the rationale for DeVargas stating that the federal courts would determine the appropriate state statute of limitations applicable to actions for abridgment of civil rights and held that, “the appropriate statute of limitations for § 1983 actions brought in New Mexico was the 3-year statute applicable to personal injury actions.” 471 U.S. at 265, 105 S.Ct. at 1941. The United States Supreme Court decision in Wilson, however, did not address the issue of retroactivity. The complaint in the instant case was filed on February 20, 1984, pleading that the alleged wrongful acts of the defendants occurred in 1981. Thus, at the time plaintiffs complaint was filed in this case, DeVargas was the controlling law because Wilson was decided on April 17, 1985. In Jackson v. City of Bloomfield, 731 F.2d 652 (10th Cir.1984), the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals considered an issue similar to that presented herein, and held that under the facts therein, Garcia v. Wilson was to be applied prospectively. I would follow that precedent in this case. In the present case, the trial court relied upon DeVargas in ruling upon the motion to dismiss. Because DeVargas was the controlling authority at the time plaintiff filed the action herein, Wilson should not be accorded retroactive application, thus, retroactively modifying DeVargas so as to apply to the facts of the case before us. Cf. State v. Manzanares, 100 N.M. 621, 674 P.2d 511 (1984). I would not apply the ruling in Wilson retroactively.