Courthouse News Serv. v. N.M. Admin. Office of the Courts

• Decision Date: 23 November 2022
• Docket Number: 21-2135
• Parties: COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. NEW MEXICO ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF the COURTS; Arthur W. Pepin, Administrative Office Director; New Mexico First Judicial District Court Clerk's Office; Kathleen Vigil, First Judicial Court Clerk, Defendants - Appellants.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Tenth Circuit

53 F.4th 1245

COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE, Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.NEW MEXICO ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF the COURTS; Arthur W. Pepin, Administrative Office Director; New Mexico First Judicial District Court Clerk's Office; Kathleen Vigil, First Judicial Court Clerk, Defendants - Appellants.

No. 21-2135

United States Court of Appeals, Tenth Circuit.

FILED November 23, 2022

Erin E. Lecocq, Assistant Attorney General (Nicholas M. Sydow, Solicitor General, with her on the briefs), Office of the New Mexico Attorney General, Santa Fe, New Mexico, appearing for Appellants.

Jonathan G. Fetterly, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, San Francisco, California (Katherine Keating, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP, San Francisco, California, and Gregory P. Williams, Peifer, Hanson, Mullins & Baker, Albuquerque, New Mexico, with him on the brief), appearing for Appellee.

Before TYMKOVICH, BRISCOE, and PHILLIPS, Circuit Judges.

BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

The defendants (collectively, the "New Mexico Courts") appeal from the district court's entry of a preliminary injunction in favor of the plaintiff, Courthouse News Service ("Courthouse News"). In July 2021, Courthouse News moved for a preliminary injunction, arguing that it is likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that the New Mexico Courts’ policy and practice of withholding new civil complaints from the press and public until after administrative processing—rather than providing the complaints contemporaneously upon receipt—violates Courthouse News’ right of timely access to court filings under the First Amendment.

After conducting a hearing, the district court granted in part and denied in part Courthouse News’ motion for a preliminary injunction. Specifically, the district court enjoined the New Mexico Courts from withholding press and public access to newly filed, non-confidential civil complaints for longer than five business hours. However, the district court concluded that Courthouse News is not entitled to a preliminary injunction that provides pre-processing, on-receipt, or immediate access to such complaints.

In this appeal, the New Mexico Courts argue that the district court erred in granting in part Courthouse News’ motion for preliminary injunction. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1292(a)(1), we affirm in part and reverse in part. Specifically, we affirm the district court's memorandum opinion and order to the extent that the district court (1) declined to abstain from hearing this case, and (2) concluded that the First Amendment right of access attaches when a complaint is submitted to the court. However, we conclude that the district court erred in imposing a bright-line, five-business-hour rule that fails to accommodate the state's interests in the administration of its courts. Accordingly, we reverse the district court's entry of a preliminary injunction, vacate the preliminary injunction, and remand this case to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

I. Background

A. Factual Background

1. The Parties

Courthouse News is a news service that reports on civil litigation in state and federal courts across the country. Courthouse News has over 2,300 subscribers nationwide, including law firms and news outlets such as the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal.

One of Courthouse News’ publications—the "new litigation reports"—provide staff-written summaries of newly filed, noteworthy civil complaints. The "new litigation reports" primarily cover civil complaints filed against businesses and public entities; they do not cover family law, probate, or criminal matters. The new litigation report for New Mexico covers civil complaints filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico and all the state district courts in New Mexico.

The focus of the present litigation is on timely access to newly filed, non-confidential civil complaints in the state district courts of New Mexico. The defendants, identified here as the New Mexico Courts, consist of the following offices and individuals: (1) the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts (the "NMAOC"); (2) Administrative Office Director Arthur W. Pepin; (3) the New Mexico First Judicial District Court Clerk's Office (the "Clerk's Office"); and (4) the First Judicial District Court Clerk Kathleen Vigil.

The NMAOC is a branch of the New Mexico court system that fulfills its purpose, in part, by "[e]nsuring that the courts have and use current technology" and "[d]eveloping and implementing improved court processes and supporting courts in their use." Aplt. App., Vol. III at 697–98. The Clerk's Office is "the processing center through which virtually all the court and case documents flow." Aplt. App., Vol. I at 14.

The courts of the State of New Mexico are divided into thirteen judicial districts, each comprised of one or more counties, as well as the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court, the New Mexico Court of Appeals, and the New Mexico Supreme Court. The majority of New Mexico's population resides in the First, Second, and Third judicial districts. Each judicial district, except the Second District, has at least one district courthouse and one magistrate courthouse located in a city within that district.¹ Several judicial districts have more than one district and magistrate courthouse, which are usually located in each county. New Mexico's thirteen judicial districts contain a total of thirty-three counties.

2. New Mexico's Pre-2012 Paper-Filing System

Before 2012, New Mexico's courts used a paper-filing system for court records. During this time, Courthouse News reporters would visit the courthouses in person to review newly filed paper complaints. Courthouse News has been reporting on civil complaints filed in New Mexico since 2005, when it began covering the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico and the state district courts in Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Courthouse News later expanded its coverage during the paper-filing era; until around 2011, Courthouse News reporters generally reviewed new civil complaints on the day they were filed in Bernalillo, Santa Fe, Sandoval, and Valencia counties.

Before electronic filing was available in the state courts of New Mexico, paper filing followed a two-step process. First, a filer would bring a paper pleading to the respective state courthouse during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and submit it to the court clerk. Second, the clerk would review the pleading for completeness and then either file it with a hand stamp or reject it on the spot. If the document was filed, a copy of that filing would be placed in a box in the clerk's office, where filed documents were available for review by the press during business hours.

Under this system, Courthouse News generally had same-day access to non-sealed, filed complaints. The court clerks usually took no more than a minute or two to review and file complaints. Although most complaints were placed in the press box on the same day—and usually within minutes—the district court found that, "when complaints were filed towards the end of the business day, they would not be available to the press box until the following business day."² Aplt. App., Vol. III at 775.

3. New Mexico's Electronic Filing System

The New Mexico Courts began implementing an electronic-filing system in 2012, and electronic filing became mandatory in 2014. This electronic-filing system, Odyssey File and Serve ("Odyssey"), allows attorneys to electronically file their pleadings in New Mexico's state courts, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Attorneys in New Mexico are required to redact any protected personal identifier information ("PPII") contained in the pleadings, in accordance with New Mexico Rule of Civil Procedure 1-079. N.M. Dist. Ct. R. Civ. P. 1-079(D)(1).

A document that is submitted by an attorney through the Odyssey system goes through five phases: (1) draft; (2) submitted; (3) under review; (4) processing; and (5) accepted/transmitted. First, in the "draft" phase, a filer uploads the pleading documents and inputs the case type, the parties, and the location where the case is going to be filed. Second, in the "submitted" phase, the filer hits the submit button, and the documents are then electronically sorted into queues where they await review by the court clerk. Third, in the "under review" phase, the court clerk reviews the pleading documents and the data that was entered by the filer. The court clerks ensure that the filer selected the correct case type, and they also review each of the documents for completeness, legibility, required signatures, and confidential information. Fourth, in the "processing" phase, Odyssey populates the pleading documents with the case number, judge assignment, and case title. Fifth, in the "accepted/transmitted" phase, the case status changes to accepted, and the case is complete in Odyssey.³

Once a pleading has been "accepted," it is immediately available to the public through a website called "Secure Odyssey Public Access" ("SOPA"). Members of the press can apply for an account on SOPA, and SOPA access is free. The developer of SOPA, Tyler Technologies, provides different levels, or tiers, of access to court filings for different users. For example, members of the press can access "Tier One" files, which include the non-confidential civil cases at issue here. However, users with only "Tier One" access are restricted from viewing confidential documents, such as domestic violence or child abuse complaints.

B. Procedural History

1. The Complaint

On July 30, 2021, Courthouse News filed a complaint against the New Mexico Courts in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. Specifically, Courthouse News alleges violations of (1) the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Count I); (2) federal common law, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Count II); a...