Moongate Water Co., Inc. v. State
| Decision Date | 30 June 1995 |
| Docket Number | No. 15060,15060 |
| Citation | 120 N.M. 399,902 P.2d 554,1995 NMCA 84 |
| Parties | MOONGATE WATER COMPANY, INC., Louis A. Gariano, Thelma O. Gariano, and Jeffrey Gariano, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The STATE of New Mexico, New Mexico Environment Department, New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division, Gabriel Garcia, individually, Oscar Simpson, individually, Kathleen Sisneros, individually, and Judith M. Espinosa, individually, Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | Court of Appeals of New Mexico |
Moongate Water Company (Moongate) appeals an order of the district court granting summary judgment in favor of Defendants Garcia, Sisneros, Simpson and Espinosa (Defendants) in the New Mexico Environment Department (Environment Department). We address whether Moongate's due process, equal protection, and first amendment rights under the United States Constitution have been violated. Because we find no evidence of a constitutional violation, we affirm.
Moongate had made a practice of constructing wells without getting prior state approval, and Gabriel Garcia (Garcia), the District Engineer in Las Cruces for the Environment Department, warned in June 1989 that the state would take action if Moongate continued the practice. Moongate started drilling Well 12 in September 1989 without first obtaining approval from the Environment Department. In response, the Environment Department filed a criminal complaint against Moongate and its President in the Dona Ana Magistrate Court. Before receiving notice of the complaint, but after construction of Well 12, Moongate filed an application for construction with the Environment Department.
As a result of the charges, Moongate and its president were convicted of a misdemeanor violation in magistrate court. Thereafter, Moongate appealed to district court. The district judge reversed the conviction and stated that this was a "civil matter as to whether approval will be given in the future, and not criminal."
Before the magistrate court trial, Garcia informed Moongate that since Well 12 had already been constructed, Moongate must file "as-built" plans certified by a registered professional engineer that construction had complied with minimal Environment Department standards. After Moongate filed the plans, Garcia pointed out deficiencies in Moongate's application and requested more information. When Moongate resubmitted the application, Garcia was suspicious about the change in as-built plans to conform with regulations. For example, when informed that grout depth must be at least twenty feet, the resubmitted plans indicated that the grout depth for Well 12 was indeed twenty-one feet, whereas the previous grout depth indicated for the already constructed well was fifteen feet.
More than nine months after the reversal Garcia wrote to Kathleen Sisneros (Sisneros), Director of the Water and Waste Management Division of the Environment Department, to evaluate the growing problem with Moongate. Sisneros informed Moongate that Well 12 could be used if Moongate met certain conditions, including installation of a disinfection system. Moongate rejected this proposal.
Garcia also found deficiencies in Moongate's applications for construction of Wells 13 and 14. Garcia informed Moongate that the Environment Department would approve revised applications for Wells 13 and 14 under certain detailed conditions. Garcia and the Environment Department claim here that the applications did not comply with recommended standards for construction. They further claim, despite Moongate's allegations to the contrary, that conditional approval was not intended as a retaliatory attack against Moongate for successfully appealing the criminal misdemeanor conviction.
In February 1992, after this suit was filed, Moongate entered the Environmental Improvement Agency Excellence Awards competition sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Moongate filed its entry for the competition with the Environment Department. Apparently, it was routine practice for the Environment Department to automatically recommend the entries it received for a water quality award. Moongate's entry, however, was forwarded to the EPA by Oscar Simpson (Simpson) and Sisneros without recommendation, based on the advice of the Environment Department's legal counsel. Moongate claims in its complaint that the Environment Department's failure to nominate it resulted in the EPA not selecting a winner in the category in which Moongate was the only entrant.
Moongate also alleges that Garcia and the other Defendants in this case retaliated against it for the exercise of its constitutional rights by appealing the magistrate conviction. Garcia swore that he followed Environment Department procedure in his actions toward Moongate's well applications, but procedures had not been previously enforced. Based on their alleged retaliatory actions, Moongate sued Defendants Garcia, Sisneros, Simpson, and Judith Espinosa (the Secretary of the Environment Department who had general supervisory authority over the other Defendants) in their official and individual capacities under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
Because this case involves a challenge to the implementation of regulations governing the well application process in New Mexico, we shall briefly describe that regulatory process. The Environment Department is charged with enforcing the provisions of the Environmental Improvement Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 74-1-1 to -10 (Repl.Pamp.1993) (the Act). The purpose of the Act is to provide for
environmental management and consumer protection in this state in order to ensure an environment that in the greatest possible measure: will confer optimum health, safety, comfort and economic and social well-being on its inhabitants; will protect this generation as well as those yet unborn from health threats posed by the environment; and will maximize the economic and cultural benefits of a healthy people.
Section 74-1-2. The Environmental Improvement Board promulgates all regulations under the Act, Section 74-1-5, and the Environment Department has the power to enforce those regulations via the court system. Section 74-1-6.
Pursuant to its authority to promulgate regulations and standards for water supply systems in Section 74-1-8(A)(2), the Environmental Improvement Board has adopted Water Supply Regulations. See Water Supply Regulations, Part I § 102 (Regulations). The Regulations' Part V and appendix include standards for Water Supply Construction Requirements. "All public water supply system projects [such as Moongate's] must be approved by the [Environment] Department prior to the start of construction." Id. § 501 (emphasis added). The Environment Department may deny an application if it appears that any provisions of the Regulations will not be met after completion of the project. Id. § 502(F). It was the legislature's intent to give the Environmental Improvement Board, and therefore the Environment Department, paramount authority to enforce its regulations and standards. See New Mexico Mun. League, Inc. v. New Mexico Envtl. Improvement Bd., 88 N.M. 201, 207, 539 P.2d 221, 227 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 88 N.M. 318, 540 P.2d 248 (1975).
We begin by discussing the difference between an official and an individual capacity suit. In a successful individual capacity suit, personal liability would be imposed on a public official for his or her unlawful actions taken "under color of state law." Kentucky v. Graham, 473 U.S. 159, 165, 105 S.Ct. 3099, 3105, 87 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985). Whereas, in an official capacity suit, the public official is considered an agent of the public entity and any liability would be imposed on the entity itself. Id. at 165-66, 105 S.Ct. at 3104-05; see also Ford v. New Mexico Dep't of Pub. Safety, 119 N.M. 405, 410-11, 891 P.2d 546, 551-52 (Ct.App.1994), cert. denied, 119 N.M. 354, 890 P.2d 807 (1995) (). At any rate, we need not address the distinctions between the two types of suits because we find that Moongate's constitutional claims lack merit under either type, as discussed below.
Defendants moved for summary judgment on Counts I, II, IV, and V of Moongate's second amended complaint. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of all individual Defendants. In reviewing an order granting summary judgment, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-movant. Eavenson v. Lewis Means, Inc., 105 N.M. 161, 162, 730 P.2d 464, 465 (1986). Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Roth v. Thompson, 113 N.M. 331, 334, 825 P.2d 1241, 1244 (1992). Defendants need only make a prima facie showing that they are entitled to summary judgment; thereafter the burden shifts to Moongate to show specific evidentiary facts exist which require a trial on the merits. Id. at 334-35, 825 P.2d at 1244-45. Moongate may not merely rest on the allegations of the complaint. Dow v. Chilili Coop. Ass'n, 105 N.M. 52, 55, 728 P.2d 462, 465 (1986).
42 U.S.C. § 1983 provides in pertinent part:
Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State ... subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress.
To bring a claim under Section 1983, a plaintiff must establish...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
1998 -NMSC- 1, DeVaney v. Thriftway Marketing Corp.
... ... Co. v. Romero, 117 N.M. 292, 294, 871 P.2d 388, 390 ... or illegitimate applications of the power of the state through the misuse of the courts. See. e.g., Protect Our ountain Env't. Inc. v. District Court, 677 P.2d 1361, 1368 (Colo.1984) ... 425, 426, 659 P.2d 311, 312 (1983); Moongate Water Co. v. State, 120 N.M. 399, 405, 902 P.2d 554, 560 ... ...
-
Walton v. New Mexico State Land Office, CIV 13-0343 JB/KBM
...was a nondiscriminatory reason for the RIF of Walton's General Manager I position. See MSJ at 16 (citing Moongate Water Co. v. State, 120 N.M. 399, 902 P.2d 554 (Ct. App. 1995)). The Defendants concede that "the RIF was an adverse employment action," but they argue that Walton cannot establ......
- Walton v. N.M. State Land Office
-
Walton v. New Mex. State Land Office
...was a nondiscriminatory reason for the RIF of Walton's General Manager I position. See MSJ at 16 (citing Moongate Water Co. v. State, 120 N.M. 399, 902 P.2d 554 (Ct.App.1995)). The Defendants concede that “the RIF was an adverse employment action,” but they argue that Walton cannot establis......