Doe v. Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, Inc.

• Decision Date: 26 April 1996
• Docket Number: No. 16151,16151
• Citation: 1996 NMCA 57,918 P.2d 17,121 N.M. 738
• Parties: John DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BOISE, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

Page 17

918 P.2d 17

121 N.M. 738

John DOE, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. ROMAN CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF BOISE, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 16151.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

April 26, 1996.

Certiorari Denied May 30, 1996.

[121 N.M. 740] Maryellen Duprel, Samuel M. Herrera, Taos, for Appellant.

Kenneth L. Harrigan, Timothy R. Van Valen, Modrall, Sperling, Roehl, Harris & Sisk, P.A., Albuquerque, for Appellee.

OPINION

DONNELLY, Judge.

Plaintiff appeals from an order of the trial court dismissing his complaint against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, Inc. (Boise Diocese), based on a lack of personal jurisdiction. Plaintiff raises three issues on appeal. We consolidate and address these issues as follows: (1) whether the trial court erred in determining that Plaintiff failed to establish that the Boise Diocese, a Roman Catholic diocese situated in Idaho, is subject to suit in New Mexico pursuant to this state's long-arm statute, NMSA 1978, Section 38-1-16 (Repl.Pamp.1987); and (2) whether the trial court abused its discretion in granting a protective order that restricted discovery by the parties to matters concerning the existence of personal jurisdiction over the Boise Diocese. For the reasons discussed herein, we affirm.

FACTS

On February 21, 1994, Plaintiff filed suit against Father Ruben I. Garcia, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, the Servants of the Paraclete, and the Boise Diocese, alleging sexual abuse and other tortious conduct by Father Garcia while serving as a priest in Las Vegas, New Mexico, during June 1975. Father Garcia was a Catholic priest who had previously been ordained and incardinated in the Boise Diocese. He later left the Boise Diocese with the permission of the bishop of that diocese to seek assignment as a priest elsewhere. Father Garcia contacted Archbishop James P. Davis of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and requested that he be permitted to serve as a priest in New Mexico. Archbishop Davis agreed to permit Father Garcia to serve as a priest in Santa Fe. Subsequently, with the approval of the archbishop, Father Garcia was transferred to Socorro and then to Las Vegas, New Mexico. Following the initiation of his lawsuit, Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed his claim against the Servants of the Paraclete and later settled his claims against the Archdiocese of Santa Fe.

The Boise Diocese filed a motion to dismiss Plaintiff's claims against it based on lack of personal jurisdiction under SCRA 1986, 1-012(B)(2) (Repl.1992) (hereinafter Rule 1-012), and it also sought the issuance of a protective order limiting discovery to any matters related to its motion to dismiss. Following a hearing, the trial court granted the motion for a protective order.

In support of its motion to dismiss, the Boise Diocese filed affidavits and documents, including the affidavit of Reverend Dennis G. Falk, Vicar General of the Boise Diocese, Bishop Sylvester Treinen of the Boise Diocese and Randy Steiner, the financial officer of the Boise Diocese. Included in the additional materials submitted by the Boise Diocese was an affidavit from the Reverend John P. Beal, Assistant Professor in the Department of Canon Law at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. In response, Plaintiff filed the affidavit of Father Thomas P. Doyle, a Catholic priest, together with certain documentary exhibits. Plaintiff's response to the Boise Diocese's motion to dismiss also included the affidavits of Father Liam J. Hoare and Father Peter Lechner, both Catholic priests. Thereafter, both sides submitted supplemental affidavits. Following a hearing on December 7, 1994, the trial court granted the Boise Diocese's motion to dismiss Plaintiff's claims against it, based on lack of personal jurisdiction. The present appeal does not involve Plaintiff's remaining claims against Father Garcia.

JURISDICTIONAL ISSUES

Plaintiff contends that the trial court erred when it failed to convert the Boise Diocese's motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction into a motion for summary judgment under SCRA 1986, 1-056 (Repl.1992). Plaintiff argues that because the parties submitted opposing affidavits relating to the question of personal jurisdiction, material disputed factual issues existed, precluding pretrial dismissal of his claims against the Boise Diocese under Rule 1-012(B)(2). Because the language of Rule 1-012 closely parallels that of its federal counterpart, Rule 12 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, we find federal authority interpreting Rule 12 and discussing the applicable standard of review for evaluating a motion to dismiss instructive. See Sundial Press v. City of Albuquerque, 114 N.M. 236, 239, 836 P.2d 1257, 1260 (Ct.App.1992); see also State v. Anderson, 110 N.M. 382, 383, 796 P.2d 603, 604 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 109 N.M. 232, 784 P.2d 419 (1989).

The proper procedural mechanism for challenging a court's exercise of personal jurisdiction over a party is through a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction under Rule 1-012(B)(2). See Sanchez v. Church of Scientology, 115 N.M. 660, 663, 857 P.2d 771, 774 (1993); Aetna Casualty & Sur. Co. v. Bendix Control Div., 101 N.M. 235, 240, 680 P.2d 616, 621 (Ct.App.1984).

Plaintiff's complaint alleges that the Boise Diocese is subject to the personal jurisdiction of the New Mexico courts because it performed business in this state, because Father Garcia was employed by the Boise Diocese at the time he committed the tortious acts alleged in the complaint, and because Father Garcia was incardinated as a priest in the Boise Diocese and perpetrated his alleged acts in New Mexico while he was acting as an agent or employee of the Boise Diocese. In support of its allegation that the Boise Diocese transacted business in the state, Plaintiff strongly relies on Father Doyle's affidavit which states his opinion that Father Garcia was a temporary employee of the Archdiocese and that at the time of the commission of the alleged acts Father Garcia was acting as the Boise Diocese's agent in New Mexico. The affidavit of Father Doyle also indicated that Father Garcia was incardinated into the Boise Diocese and that under church law he owed continuing obedience to the bishop of that diocese.

Individuals or entities who are nonresidents of New Mexico may be subjected to the jurisdiction of our state courts under the long-arm statute when there is evidence that such individual or entity has engaged in certain enumerated acts within New Mexico. The long-arm statute, Section 38-1-16, provides in applicable part:

A. Any person, whether or not a citizen or resident of this state, who in person or through an agent does any of the acts enumerated in this subsection thereby submits himself or his personal representative to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state as to any cause of action arising from:

(1) the transaction of any business within this state;

....

(3) the commission of a tortious act within this state;

....

C. Only causes of action arising from acts enumerated in this section may be asserted against a defendant in an action in which jurisdiction is based upon this section.

When a timely challenge is raised under Rule 1-012(B)(2) contesting the existence of personal jurisdiction, the party asserting jurisdiction has the burden of establishing such fact. Smith v. Halliburton Co., 118 N.M. 179, 185, 879 P.2d 1198, 1204 (Ct.App.), cert. denied (N.M. May 16, 1994); Aetna Casualty & Sur. Co., 101 N.M. at 240, 680 P.2d at 621. When ruling upon a motion to dismiss under Rule 1-012(B)(2), the trial court has discretion to permit discovery to help decide the issue or resolve the issue either upon written affidavits or through a pretrial evidentiary hearing. Market/Media Research, Inc. v. Union-Tribune Pub. Co., 951 F.2d 102, 106 (6th Cir.1991), cert. denied, 506 U.S. 824, 113 S.Ct. 79, 121 L.Ed.2d 43 (1992); Combs v. Bakker, 886 F.2d 673, 676 (4th Cir.1989); see also 2A James Wm. Moore, Moore's Federal Practice p 12.07, at 12-70 to 12-72 (2d ed. 1995). As observed by Professor Moore, the standard of proof for

determining the motion [varies] depending on the method chosen to resolve it. If the district court chooses not to hold an evidentiary hearing, then the party asserting jurisdiction need only make a prima facie showing that jurisdiction exists....

If a full evidentiary hearing is held, or if the jurisdictional issue is litigated at the trial, the party asserting jurisdiction must demonstrate it by a preponderance of the evidence.

Moore, supra p 12.07, at 12-70 to 12-72 (footnotes omitted).

Once the question of jurisdiction is properly raised, the burden of supporting the jurisdictional allegations is shifted to the party asserting jurisdiction, Smith, 118 N.M. at 185, 879 P.2d at 1204, although, if there is no evidentiary hearing, the burden is somewhat lessened in that the trial court will consider the affidavits in the light most favorable to the plaintiff. American Greetings Corp. v. Cohn, 839 F.2d 1164, 1169 (6th Cir.1988). When a party contests the existence of personal jurisdiction under Rule 1-012(B)(2) and accompanies its motion with affidavits or depositions, however, the party resisting such motion may not stand on its pleadings and must come forward with affidavits or other proper evidence detailing specific facts demonstrating that the court has jurisdiction over the defendant. See Sanchez, 115 N.M. at 663, 857 P.2d at 774; State ex rel. Anaya v. Columbia Research Corp., 92 N.M. 104, 105, 583 P.2d 468, 469 (1978); see also Theunissen v. Matthews, 935 F.2d 1454, 1458 (6th Cir.1991).

As observed in Theunissen, in deciding a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(2) "[t]he court's treatment ... mirrors in some respects the procedural treatment given to a motion for summary judgment under Rule 56. For example, the pleadings and affidavits submitted on a 12(b)(2) motion are...