New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2013

Conejo v. City of Albuquerque

Conejo v. City of Albuquerque
New Mexico Court of Appeals · Decided May 1, 2013

Conejo v. City of Albuquerque

Opinion

This memorandum opinion was not selected for publication in the New Mexico Appellate Reports.

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1 IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO DANIEL CONEJO, AMME HOGAN, SONNY LEEPER, DAVID QUINTANA, JAMES REICH, JOHN RUSSO, KEVIN SMITH, MARK WEINSTEIN, and a Class of Others Similarly Situated, 7 Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. No. 29,787 CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE, MARTIN P. CHAVEZ, Mayor, and REDFLEX TRAFFIC SYSTEMS, INC., 12 Defendants-Appellees, and M. CHRISTINE MONTOYA, ROLAND M.

15 CHEEKU, BETTY DELGADO, SYLVIA PEREZ, SUSAN L. ABRUMS, and all Others Similarly Situated, 18 Intervenors-Appellees.

19 APPEAL FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF BERNALILLO COUNTY Richard J. Knowles, District Judge Paul Livingston, Placitas, NM for Appellants

2 Robert J. Perry, City Attorney Michael I. Garcia, Assistant City Attorney Albuquerque, NM for Appellees City of Albuquerque Keleher & McLeod, P.A.

7 Charles A. Pharris Thomas C. Bird Ben Feuchter Albuquerque, NM for Appellee Redflex Traffic Systems, Inc. The Branch Law Firm Turner W. Branch Frank V. Balderrama Paul D. Dominguez Albuquerque, NM for Intervenors-Appellees 18 MEMORANDUM OPINION GARCIA, Judge.

20 {1} Plaintiffs appeal the district court’s order to dismiss their class action complaint challenging the City of Albuquerque’s “Safe Traffic Operations Program” (STOP) Ordinance. While this appeal was pending, this Court issued opinions in Titus v. City of Albuquerque, 2011-NMCA-038, 149 N.M. 556, 252 P.3d 780, and Montoya v. City of Albuquerque, No. 29,838, slip op. (N.M. Ct. App. May 18, 2011), in which the plaintiffs raised similar challenges to the legality and constitutionality of the STOP Ordinance. Both Opinions upheld the validity of the STOP Ordinance in favor of the City of Albuquerque. Titus, 2011-NMCA-038, ¶ 1; Montoya, No. 29, 838, slip op. at 2. The New Mexico Supreme Court granted certiorari and reviewed both cases. Titus v. City of Albuquerque, 2011-NMCERT-005, 150 N.M. 667, 265 P.3d 718; Montoya v. City of Albuquerque, 2011-NMCERT-008, 268 P.3d 514. Upon this Court’s own motion, we issued an order to hold this case in abeyance pending the decisions by the Supreme Court in Titus and Montoya. The Supreme Court has now quashed certiorari in both cases. Titus, 2013-NMCERT-003, ___ P.3d ___ (No. 32,941, Mar. 22, 2013), and Montoya, 2013-NMCERT-003, ___ P.3d ___ (No. 33,070, Mar. 22, 2013).

12 {2} The district court dismissed the present case before it reached the merits, concluding that Plaintiffs were already represented as part of the certified class in Montoya. On appeal, Plaintiffs challenge the procedure used by the district court and do not argue that their interests are somehow different than the class in the Montoya case. We find nothing in the record that distinguishes the merits of the present case from those decided by this Court in Montoya and Titus. The merits of Plaintiffs’ arguments were either directly considered in Titus and Montoya or are governed by the issues raised and analysis in those cases. Nothing further remains to be decided

1 on the merits and any procedural error by the district court would now be moot. See Glaser v. LeBus, 2012-NMSC-012, ¶ 12, 276 P.3d 959 (affirming the district court if it is right for any reason); Maralex Res., Inc. v. Gilbreath, 2003-NMSC-023, ¶ 13, 134 4 N.M. 308, 76 P.3d 626 (“[A]n appellate court will affirm the district court if it is right for any reason and if affirmance is not unfair to the appellant.” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)). We therefore affirm the district court’s dismissal based on our holdings in Titus, 2011-NMCA-038, ¶ 1 and Montoya, No. 29, 838, slip op. at 2.

9 {3} IT IS SO ORDERED.

10 ___________________________________ 11 TIMOTHY L. GARCIA, Judge WE CONCUR:

13 ____________________________ JAMES J. WECHSLER, Judge

15 ____________________________ JONATHAN B. SUTIN, Judge

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