Other Litigation
- Appellate decisions won by the firm include Stinbrink v. Farmers, 111 N.M. 179, 803 P.2d 664 (1991), where the Supreme Court substantially increased the damages injured motorists can recover under their uninsured/underinsured motorist policy.
- Beavers v. Johnson Controls World Services, Inc., 118 N.M. 391, 881 P.2d 1376 (1994). The firm originally represented the plaintiff in a worker's compensation claim based on psychological injuries resulting from abuse by her supervisor. The compensation claim was denied because there was no "traumatic event." Instead of dropping the case, however, we brought a novel claim for prima facie tort, and upon that theory, the jury awarded $76,000.00. The Court of Appeals reversed the verdict, but on appeal to the New Mexico Supreme Court, the verdict was ultimately upheld, signalling a major advance in New Mexico law.
- Abel Montoya v. Mentor Corp., 122 N.M. 2, 919 P.2d 410 (Ct. App. 1996). A
medical products liability case in which we helped to advance New Mexico law on
federal preemption under the Medical Device Amendment to the Federal Food,
Drug and Cosmetic Acts. The New Mexico Court of Appeals, citing the historic
U.S. Supreme Court case of Marbury v. Madison (1803), refused to deny the
injured plaintiff a right to a jury trial.
- In Kevin J. v. Sager, 2000-NMCA-12, 128 N.M. 794, 999 P.2d 1026, the New Mexico Court of Appeals extended the statute of limitations that applied to claims by adult survivors of childhood abuse.
- The firm tried an age discrimination case to a federal jury and was awarded
approximately $500,000.00 in back pay. Up to the
time of trial, the defendant's highest offer had been $35,000.00.
- The firm successfully sued a major credit card company which had continued to
report false and damaging credit information about our client. We pursued claims
under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, as well as claims against two debt
collection agencies for violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.
