Navajo Refining Co. v. Southern Union Refining Co., 16404
| Decision Date | 16 April 1987 |
| Docket Number | No. 16404,16404 |
| Citation | 1987 NMSC 33,735 P.2d 533,105 N.M. 616 |
| Parties | NAVAJO REFINING COMPANY and Navajo Pipeline Company, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. SOUTHERN UNION REFINING COMPANY and Midland-Lea, Inc., (formerly Midland-Lea Pipeline Company), Defendants-Appellants. |
| Court | New Mexico Supreme Court |
Navajo Refining Company and Navajo Pipeline Company (plaintiffs) sued Southern Union Refining Company and Midland-Lea, Inc. (defendants) for sums alleged to be due and owing under the provisions of contracts and agreements entered into by the parties. Plaintiffs' original complaint contained seven counts. Defendants counterclaimed. Defendants' first amended counterclaim contained eight counts. The claims and counterclaims are interrelated. The trial court granted partial summary judgment on two of the counts raised by the complaint in favor of plaintiffs and, finding that there was no just reason for delay, made the partial summary judgment a final judgment. After partial summary judgment was entered, a second amended counterclaim and an amended complaint were filed. Defendants appealed from the partial summary judgment and determination of finality; we hold that the trial court abused its discretion in entering final judgment.
This case presents two issues:
(1) Did the trial court abuse its discretion in entering final judgment?
(2) Did the trial court err in entering partial summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs?
As a result of our disposition of the first issue, we do not reach the second issue.
SCRA 1986, Rule 1-054(C)(1) provides in part:
[W]hen more than one claim for relief is presented in an action, whether as a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim or third-party claim, the court may enter a final judgment as to one or more but fewer than all of the claims only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay.
The determination of whether there is no just reason for delay lies in the sound discretion of the trial court, and the trial court's determination will not be disturbed absent an abuse of discretion. Banquest/First Nat'l Bank v. LMT, Inc., 105 N.M. 583, 734 P.2d 1266 (1987).
In Banquest/First Nat'l Bank v. LMT, Inc., we stated that we disfavor " 'fragmentation in the adjudication of related legal or factual issues.' " Id. (quoting Allis-Chalmers Corp. v. Philadelphia Elec. Co., 521 F.2d 360, 370 (3d Cir.1975) (Gibbons, J., dissenting)). We also stated that we disfavor piecemeal appeals. Id. Relying on three factors, i.e., the interrelation of adjudicated...
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