Martinez v. Segovia

• Decision Date: 10 October 2002
• Docket Number: No. 22,139.,22,139.
• Citation: 62 P.3d 331,133 N.M. 240,2003 NMCA 23
• Parties: Floyd B. MARTINEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jake SEGOVIA and Becky Segovia, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

62 P.3d 331

133 N.M. 240

2003 NMCA 23

Floyd B. MARTINEZ, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Jake SEGOVIA and Becky Segovia, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 22,139.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

October 10, 2002.

William H. Lazar, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant.

Daniel P. Ulibarri, Daniel J. O'Brien & Associates, P.C., Albuquerque, NM, for Appellee, Jake Segovia.

Katherine W. Hall, Timothy L. Butler, Miller, Stratvert & Torgerson, P.A., Santa Fe, NM, for Appellee, Becky Segovia.

OPINION

SUTIN, Judge.

{1} A dead person was the named plaintiff. After the statute of limitations had run, the decedent's widow was appointed personal representative of his estate and sought to be substituted as the real party in interest. Without considering the merits of the substitution issue, the district court dismissed the action on the ground of lack of jurisdiction, calling the complaint a nullity. The decedent's widow appeals. We reverse. While a dead person cannot obtain relief, an action filed naming a dead person can remain viable with an allowable substitution of the real party in interest under Rule 1-017(A) NMRA 2002 to pursue the claim even after the applicable statute of limitations period has run.

BACKGROUND

{2} Floyd Martinez (Martinez) was injured in an automobile accident in April 1996. He died in September 1998 of causes unrelated to the accident, but not before obtaining an attorney for his personal injuries claim. While Martinez was alive, the attorney engaged in discussions with the other party's insurance claims processor. After Martinez died, his widow (Mrs. Martinez) met with the attorney, and in March 1999 an action for damages for the personal injuries Martinez received in the accident was filed against Jake and Becky Segovia (the Segovias). Martinez was named as the plaintiff in the complaint, but the complaint did not mention he was dead. Summons and complaint were not served on the Segovias until November 1999, some eight months after the complaint was filed. When the Segovias answered in December 1999, they were not aware Martinez was deceased.

{3} On the same day the action against the Segovias was filed, Mrs. Martinez applied to the district court for appointment as personal representative of Martinez's estate. She was appointed as personal representative in January 2000. The Segovias were not notified of the appointment.

{4} In June 2000 the attorney who handled these proceedings was permitted to withdraw for medical reasons. In July 2000 the Segovias moved for summary judgment on the ground Martinez failed to exercise due diligence in serving the complaint and, in addition, because the three-year limitation period in NMSA 1978, § 37-1-8 (1976) had expired before the complaint was served. Also in July 2000 Mrs. Martinez, as personal representative of the plaintiff, filed a motion for an extension of time to respond to the Segovias' motion for summary judgment.

{5} A new attorney entered an appearance for the plaintiff in August 2000 and in responding to the motion for summary judgment in September 2000 mentioned that Mrs. Martinez had been appointed personal representative and attached Martinez's death certificate. It was then that the Segovias first learned that Martinez was deceased. The Segovias took the position in their summary judgment reply that the action was a nullity because a dead person cannot sue. In November 2000 a motion was filed to amend the complaint to substitute Mrs. Martinez, as personal representative of Martinez's estate, as the plaintiff.

{6} Without a hearing on the pending motions, the district court in February 2001 dismissed the action by memorandum decision and order of dismissal based on "want of jurisdiction" because Martinez was dead when the complaint was filed. Because the court dismissed on want of jurisdiction, it did not address the pending motions.

{7} On appeal of the order of dismissal in March 2001, this Court remanded to the district court for it to address whether the complaint had been served with reasonable diligence under Rule 1-004(F) NMRA 2002. The district court thereafter ruled that the complaint had been served with reasonable diligence. This Court then resumed consideration of Martinez's appeal and now addresses the issues raised, namely, whether the district court lacked jurisdiction on the ground the complaint was a nullity and, if not, whether Mrs. Martinez should be substituted as the proper plaintiff and permitted to pursue the claim under a relation back procedure. The Segovias contend on appeal that the district court erred in determining Martinez acted with reasonable diligence in serving the complaint.

DISCUSSION

The Complaint was not a Nullity; Substitution and Relation Back are Appropriate

{8} The issues require a look at laws and procedures applicable to a decedent's estate and to our rules of procedure. Applying these, we hold the complaint is not a nullity and the district court has subject matter jurisdiction.

{9} The issues of lack of jurisdiction and interpretation and application of law and procedure are legal issues we review de novo. Gallegos v. Pueblo of Tesuque, 2002-NMSC-012, ¶ 6, 132 N.M. 207, 46 P.3d 668; N.M. Right to Choose/NARAL v. Johnson, 1999-NMSC-028, ¶¶ 7-8, 127 N.M. 654, 986 P.2d 450.

{10} "New Mexico adheres to the broad purposes of the Rules of Civil Procedure and construes the rules liberally, particularly as they apply to pleading." Las Luminarias of the N.M. Council of the Blind v. Isengard, 92 N.M. 297, 300, 587 P.2d 444, 447 (Ct.App.1978). "`The general policy of the Rules requires that an adjudication on the merits rather than technicalities of procedure and form shall determine the rights of the litigants.'" Id. (quoting Carroll v. Bunt, 50 N.M. 127, 130, 172 P.2d 116, 118 (1946)).

{11} The rules are to "be construed and administered to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action." Rule 1-001 NMRA 2002. "All pleadings shall be so construed as to do substantial justice." Rule 1-008(F) NMRA 2002. "Misjoinder of parties is not ground for dismissal of an action. Parties may be dropped or added by order of the court on motion of any party or of its own initiative at any stage of the action and on such terms as are just." Rule 1-021 NMRA 2002.

{12} Modern views of pleading and of the capacity to sue and be sued have replaced archaic nullity jurisprudence, particularly where the party asserting the nullity bar is not prejudiced. See Chavez v. Regents of the Univ. of N.M., 103 N.M. 606, 610, 711 P.2d 883, 887 (1985)

; Macias v. Jaramillo, 2000-NMCA-086, ¶¶ 14-16, 129 N.M. 578, 11 P.3d 153.

[The rules of civil procedure] were designed in large part to get away from some of the old procedural booby traps which common-law pleaders could set to prevent unsophisticated litigants from ever having their day in court. If rules of procedure work as they should in an honest and fair judicial system, they not only permit, but should as nearly as possible guarantee that bona fide complaints be carried to an adjudication on the merits.

Hess v. Eddy, 689 F.2d 977, 982 (11th Cir. 1982) (quoting Surowitz v. Hilton Hotels Corp., 383 U.S. 363, 373, 86 S.Ct. 845, 15 L.Ed.2d 807 (1966)) (allowing joinder of administratrix under Fed.R.Civ.P. 17(a) after statute of limitations ran), abrogation on other grounds recognized by Jones v. Preuit & Mauldin, 876 F.2d 1480 (11th Cir.1989)

; cf. State ex rel. Sweet v. Village of Jemez Springs, Inc. City Council, 114 N.M. 297, 301-02, 837 P.2d 1380, 1384-85 (Ct.App.1992) (allowing joinder of an indispensable party at the appellate stage despite passage of jurisdictional deadline where no prejudice results).

{13} Blindly invoking a nullity rule in a technical fashion disparages the law and procedures available to pursue a claim for or against a decedent's estate. It further invalidates the right to substitute the proper party for this purpose. Although defendants should be protected from duplicate claims by different parties and from other possible prejudicial results, such protection should not be afforded by outweighing the importance of this right with that of mere technicalities in pleading. See Chavez, 103 N.M. at 610,

711 P.2d at 887; Macias, 2000-NMCA-086, ¶¶ 14-16,

129 N.M. 578,

11 P.3d 153; see also NMSA 1978, § 45-3-715(A)(22) (1995) (personal representative's authority to prosecute claims); Rule 1-017(A) (substitution of real party in interest). In the present case, Martinez died intestate and Mrs. Martinez, simultaneous with the filing of the action against the Segovias, sought appointment as personal representative of Martinez's estate. She proceeded to obtain the appointment and then sought to be substituted as the plaintiff. We see no reason to rule that the complaint was a nullity. Rather, we analyze whether statutes and rules of procedure apply to allow the action to proceed with Mrs. Martinez as the plaintiff in her capacity as personal representative of Martinez's estate.

{14} Under Rule 1-017(A), every action must be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest. Where prosecution of the action is not in the name of the real party in interest "by reason of honest mistake, ... the court may allow a reasonable time for ratification of commencement of the action by, or joinder or substitution of, the real party in interest." Rule 1-017(A). The Rules of Civil Procedure have an overall goal similar to that of the federal rules of making pleading less burdensome and also a specific goal similar to that of the federal rules in requiring prosecution by the real party in interest. GCM, Inc. v. Kentucky Cent. Life Ins. Co., 1997-NMSC-052, ¶ 32, 124 N.M. 186, 947 P.2d 143. "[T]he policies underlying [Rule 1-017(A)] support a liberal interpretation in favor of the movant." Id.

{15} Federal R. Civ. P. 17(a) reads differently than Rule 1-017(A). The federal rule says: "No action shall be dismissed on the ground that it is not prosecuted in the name...