Rainaldi v. Public Employees Retirement Bd.

• Citation: 857 P.2d 761,115 N.M. 650,1993 NMSC 28
• Decision Date: 14 June 1993
• Docket Number: No. 20138,20138
• Parties: Lidio G. RAINALDI, Petitioner-Appellee, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT BOARD, et al., Respondents-Appellants.
• Court: Supreme Court of New Mexico

Page 761

857 P.2d 761

115 N.M. 650

Lidio G. RAINALDI, Petitioner-Appellee, v. PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT BOARD, et al., Respondents-Appellants.

No. 20138.

Supreme Court of New Mexico.

June 14, 1993.

Rehearing Denied July 26, 1993.

[115 N.M. 651] Tom Udall, Atty. Gen., Andrea B. Buzzard, Asst. Atty. Gen., Santa Fe, for appellants.

Marchiondo & Vigil, Michael E. Vigil, Albuquerque, for appellee.

OPINION

RANSOM, Chief Justice.

Magistrate Lidio Rainaldi claims entitlement to retirement benefits, prospectively and retroactively from January 1, 1987, under the Public Employees Retirement Act in effect at the time this lawsuit was initiated, NMSA 1978, Sections 10-11-1 to -41 (Repl.Pamp.1983 & Cum.Supp.1986).¹ On April 30, 1987, the Public Employment Retirement Board, a state agency created in the Act and assigned the tasks of effecting the provisions of the Act and of managing the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), granted retirement benefits to Judge Rainaldi; but on May 11, upon advice from the Attorney General, the Board rescinded that decision. Judge Rainaldi filed suit in the eleventh judicial district against the Board and its members in their official and individual capacities seeking a writ of mandamus, declaratory judgment, and injunctive relief. The Board appeals the ruling of the district court in favor of Judge Rainaldi, under which the court granted a permanent writ of mandamus and ordered the Board to pay the contested benefits. Although appellate jurisdiction in this Court has not been properly alleged or shown, we determine we have jurisdiction under NMSA 1978, Section 34-5-14(A) (Repl.Pamp.1990) (Supreme Court has plenary appellate jurisdiction except where specifically vested by law in Court of Appeals), and proceed to decide the matter. See NMSA 1978, Sec. 34-5-10 (Repl.Pamp.1990) (appellate court's determination of jurisdiction is final). We reverse the declaratory judgment and vacate the writ of mandamus.

Facts. In 1986, as he had for a long time, Judge Rainaldi held two part-time jobs as a municipal judge for the City of Gallup and as a magistrate judge for McKinley County. Both of his employers, the city and the state, were affiliated public employers under the Act. Judge Rainaldi had belonged to PERA for over thirty years, and he was eligible for retirement and a retirement annuity.² In September 1986, Judge Rainaldi submitted his resignation from his position as a municipal judge. While it is not clear exactly when his resignation became effective, it is clear that he did not work or receive compensation as a municipal judge any later than December 30, 1986, the next to last work day of the year. That Fall, he had travelled to Santa Fe to learn from Board officials what steps he should take to begin receiving his annuity payments. Initially, although standing as an unopposed candidate for re-election to the magistrate's position in the general election of November 1986, Judge Rainaldi contemplated retiring from both of his judicial positions and collecting his retirement annuity. Benny Armijo, a deputy director of the Board, advised Judge Rainaldi, however, that he could begin collecting his retirement annuity if he were to retire from his municipal judgeship, complete a break in his service as a magistrate, and then resume work as a re-elected magistrate. Judge Rainaldi contends that he accordingly completed a break in service from his magistrate position before beginning another term on January 1, 1987. The Board disputes that a break in service was proved. In connection with his magistrate position, the court made no finding that there was a break in service, but did find that Judge Rainaldi requested in December 1986 that his name be deleted from the PERA membership rolls effective December 30, 1986.

Jurisdictional issues.--Jurisdiction in the eleventh judicial district. The Board challenges the propriety of bringing this action in the eleventh judicial district rather than in the first judicial district where the Board sits. It couches its argument in terms of a challenge to the court's subject-matter jurisdiction, citing to the New Mexico Constitution to support its claim that the eleventh judicial district court was without jurisdiction.

The district court shall have original jurisdiction in all matters and causes not excepted in this constitution, and such jurisdiction of special cases and proceedings as may be conferred by law, and appellate jurisdiction of all cases originating in inferior courts and tribunals in their respective districts, and supervisory control over the same.

N.M. Const. art. VI, Sec. 13 (emphasis added). The Board points out that all its decisions relative to this matter were made in Santa Fe. The Board cannot persuasively argue, however, that its actions denying benefits to Judge Rainaldi were taken as an inferior court or tribunal. Legislatively-created boards, while clothed with certain quasi-judicial powers to administer agencies, are not courts, and in this instance the Board was not acting in its quasi-judicial capacity. See State ex rel. Hovey Concrete Prods. v. Mechem, 63 N.M. 250, 258, 316 P.2d 1069, 1074 (1957) (Sadler, J., dissenting) (stating that the legislature did not create a court when it created a board, even though it invested the board with certain quasi-judicial powers), overruled and dissenting opinion adopted by Wylie Corp. v. Mowrer, 104 N.M. 751, 753, 726 P.2d 1381, 1383 (1986). The Board's decision to reverse its grant of benefits to Rainaldi was not rendered after a hearing with any of the trappings required by due process, e.g., notice, hearing, and opportunity to present witnesses. See National Council on Compensation Ins. v. New Mexico State Corp. Comm'n, 107 N.M. 278, 285-86, 756 P.2d 558, 565-66 (1988) (reasonableness of notice and procedures followed is essential to due process). In fact, the reversal came after a closed-door executive committee session held at the request of the attorney general's office. This case did not originate as an appeal, but as an action for declaratory relief.³ The Board never asserted either claim or issue preclusion arising out of any quasi-judicial proceedings in any inferior tribunal. Because the Board did not act as an inferior court or tribunal in denying benefits to Judge Rainaldi, the district court's jurisdiction was not limited by Article VI, Section 13. See Peisker v. Chavez, 46 N.M. 159, 164, 123 P.2d 726, 729 (1942) (jurisdiction of district courts not limited by Constitution except as to appellate jurisdiction of cases originating in inferior courts). The Board has not identified any other constitutional provision excepting this matter from the general jurisdiction of the district courts.

Judge Rainaldi sought a declaration that he was entitled to collect retirement benefits and a writ of mandamus to enforce that right. Jurisdiction for a declaratory judgment is found in the Declaratory Judgment Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 44-6-1 to -15. Section 44-6-4 provides that "[a]ny person ... whose rights, status or other legal relations are affected by a statute ... may have determined any question of construction or validity arising under the ... statute ... and obtain a declaration of rights, status or other legal relations thereunder." Section 44-6-13 provides that the state "or any official thereof, may be sued and declaratory judgment entered when the rights, status or other legal relations of the parties call for a construction of ... any of the laws of the State of New Mexico or the United States, or any statute thereof." Judge Rainaldi properly sued the Board seeking a determination and declaration of his rights to retirement benefits under the Public Employees Retirement Act. Jurisdiction over the cause, not being excepted by any constitutional provision, was within the grant of general jurisdiction to district courts, including the courts of the eleventh district.

--Mandamus was an appropriate remedy. The district court's jurisdiction in a declaratory judgment case extends to issuance of appropriate writs in support of its judgment. See Sec. 44-6-9 (granting district courts the power, inter alia, to issue writs based on the court's declaratory relief); see also State ex rel. State Highway Comm'n v. Quesenberry, 72 N.M. 291, 293, 383 P.2d 255, 256 (1963) (writ of mandamus compelling state agency to act was ancillary to and in aid of judgment, which gave court jurisdiction over the case).

The Board, however, attacks the propriety of a writ of mandamus as the remedy. "[M]andamus lies to compel the performance of an affirmative act by another where the duty to perform the act is clearly enjoined by law and where there is no other plain, speedy and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law." Lovato v. City of Albuquerque, 106 N.M. 287, 289, 742 P.2d 499, 501 (1987); see NMSA 1978, Sec. 44-2-4 (writ of mandamus may be issued to compel performance of an act specially enjoined by law as duty of office); Sec. 44-2-5 (mandamus shall not issue where there is a plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law); Concerned Residents for Neighborhood, Inc. v. Shollenbarger, 113 N.M. 667, 669, 831 P.2d 603, 605 (Ct.App.1991) (discussing difference between writs of mandamus and certiorari, Court stated that mandamus lies to enforce legal right against one having legal duty to perform an act or to compel performance of ministerial duty that one charged with its performance refuses to perform), disapproved of by Regents of Univ. of New Mexico v. Hughes, 114 N.M. 304, 310, 838 P.2d 458, 464 (1992) (holding decisions regarding transfer of liquor licenses, such as the one in Concerned Residents, are reviewable by statutory appeal). The act compelled by a writ of mandamus "must be ministerial, that is, an act or thing which the public official is required to perform by direction of law upon a given state of facts being shown to exist, regardless of his...