Ruegsegger v. Western Nm University

• Decision Date: 16 August 2006
• Docket Number: No. 25,960.,25,960.
• Citation: 154 P.3d 681,2007 NMCA 030
• Parties: Jessica Nichole RUEGSEGGER, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. The BOARD OF REGENTS OF WESTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY and John Counts, Ph.D, and Chris Farren, Ph.D, individually and in their official capacities as President and Vice President of WMNU, Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

154 P.3d 681

2007 NMCA 030

Jessica Nichole RUEGSEGGER, Plaintiff-Appellant/Cross-Appellee, v. The BOARD OF REGENTS OF WESTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY and John Counts, Ph.D, and Chris Farren, Ph.D, individually and in their official capacities as President and Vice President of WMNU, Defendants-Appellees/Cross-Appellants.

No. 25,960.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

August 16, 2006.

Certiorari Denied, No. 30,054, November 15, 2006.

Sherry J. Tippett, Albuquerque, NM, Peter Thomas White, Santa Fe, NM, for Appellant.

Beall & Biehler, P.A., Josh A. Harris, Albuquerque, NM, for Appellees.

OPINION

PICKARD, Judge.

{1} Plaintiff, Jessica Nichole Ruegsegger, appeals an order dismissing her complaint for breach of contract against Defendants, the Board of Regents of Western New Mexico University (WNMU), John Counts, Ph.D., and Chris Farren, Ph.D., and a second order refusing to allow Plaintiff leave to file an amended complaint. Defendants cross-appeal from the portion of the amended order awarding dismissal under Rule 1-012(B)(6) NMRA, instead of summary judgment. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

{2} Plaintiff was attending WNMU on an athletic scholarship in the spring of 2004. On April 13, 2004, Plaintiff was allegedly raped by two WNMU football players. Plaintiff was dissatisfied with the ensuing investigation by WNMU and, on August 19, 2004, she filed a complaint against Defendants for intentional infliction of emotional distress, violation of Title IX, breach of contract, and breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. Plaintiff alleged that WNMU officials breached their contractual obligations by deliberately failing to follow WNMU policies and procedures in investigating the sexual attack, failing to provide a school free from harassment and hostility, and failing to provide reasonable support for her following the assault. The case was removed to federal court which, pursuant to Plaintiff's unopposed motion and the stipulation of the parties, dismissed the Title IX claim and remanded to state court.

{3} Defendants filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to Rule 1-012(B)(6), claiming governmental immunity and arguing that there was no contract, express or implied, between Plaintiff and WNMU as a matter of law. They also filed an expedited motion for a protective order to stay discovery until the district court ruled on their motion to dismiss. In response to the motion for a protective order, Plaintiff stated that no discovery requests of any kind had yet been made, but also acknowledged that she had been attempting to set depositions for WNMU officials without success.

{4} In response to the motion to dismiss, Plaintiff claimed that she had an enforceable, written contract with WNMU in the form of three Athletic Scholarship Agreements and that she had an implied contract based upon the WNMU Student Handbook. She conceded that Defendants were entitled to immunity on her intentional infliction of emotional distress claim and sought leave to file a stipulated motion to amend her complaint to omit the emotional distress claim and to proceed on the breach of contract claim.

{5} As exhibits to her response, Plaintiff attached copies of two Athletic Scholarship Agreements dated April 23, 2002, and May 1, 2003, respectively. She also attached a copy of her affidavit stating that she had attempted to obtain her most recent Athletic Scholarship Agreement and a letter of intent, but she was denied immediate access to those documents by WNMU employees. She concluded by asking for summary judgment in her favor.

{6} In reply, Defendants claimed that by attaching exhibits Plaintiff had transformed the motion into one for summary judgment. They also argued that Plaintiff's breach of contract claim failed because the Scholarship Agreements only require WNMU to provide scholarship funds and only require Plaintiff, but not WNMU, to comply with university regulations. Finally, they noted that Plaintiff could not recover against the individual Defendants due to governmental immunity.

{7} After a hearing, the district court granted Defendants' motion to dismiss. The court also found that Plaintiff had turned the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment by attaching evidence outside of the pleadings.

{8} Plaintiff filed a motion to reconsider and a motion for leave to file an amended complaint. She attached a proposed amended complaint alleging claims for breach of contract and breach of an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, with copies of the WNMU Student Handbook and the Scholarship Agreement dated May 1, 2003, attached.

{9} The district court denied Plaintiff's motion for reconsideration by issuing an amended order granting Defendants' motion to dismiss. In the amended order, the court found that Plaintiff did not turn the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment. Defendants filed a motion to reconsider the district court's ruling that Plaintiff did not convert the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment, which was not ruled upon and therefore deemed denied. The district court also denied Plaintiff's motion for leave to file an amended complaint.

{10} Plaintiff appeals the order dismissing her complaint and the order denying her motion for leave to file an amended complaint. Defendants cross-appeal, claiming that Plaintiff's attachments converted the motion into one for summary judgment instead of dismissal on the pleadings.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

{11} "A motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim under Rule 1-012(B)(6), `tests the legal sufficiency of the complaint, accepting all well-pleaded factual allegations as true.'" Henderson v. City of Tucumcari, 2005-NMCA-077, ¶ 7, 137 N.M. 709, 114 P.3d 389 (quoting Derringer v. State, 2003-NMCA-073, ¶ 5, 133 N.M. 721, 68 P.3d 961). The motion will only be granted if "the law does not support a plaintiff's claim under any set of facts subject to proof." Henderson, 2005-NMCA-077, ¶ 7, 137 N.M. 709, 114 P.3d 389. We review rulings on Rule 1-012(B)(6) motions de novo. Id.

{12} In addition to challenging the dismissal of her original complaint, Plaintiff claims that the district court should have granted her leave to file an amended complaint. The trial court's decision on a motion to amend is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Dominguez v. Dairyland Ins. Co., 1997-NMCA-065, ¶ 17, 123 N.M. 448, 942 P.2d 191. Although, in general, leave to amend is freely granted, whenever the insufficiency or futility of the proposed amended pleading is apparent on its face, leave to amend may be denied because granting the motion "would serve no purpose." Stinson v. Berry, 1997-NMCA-076, ¶ 9, 123 N.M. 482, 943 P.2d 129 (recognizing that the futility of an amended complaint is a reasonable basis for denying leave to amend); see Thompson v. Montgomery & Andrews, P.A., 112 N.M. 463, 467, 816 P.2d 532, 536 (Ct.App.1991) (holding that the district court did not err in refusing to allow the plaintiff to amend his complaint because the plaintiff failed to demonstrate that he had any "viable alternative claim against these defendants").

{13} If we conclude that the district court correctly ruled that Plaintiff failed to state a valid claim for breach of contract in her original complaint and that failure was not corrected in the proposed amended complaint, we will affirm the district court's decision to deny Plaintiff's motion for leave to file the amended complaint. See, e.g., Home & Land Owners, Inc. v. Angel Fire Resort Operations, L.L.C., 2003-NMCA-070, ¶ 33, 133 N.M. 733, 69 P.3d 243 (affirming the district court's denial of plaintiff's motion to amend when the proposed amendment sought to assert claims that were premised on the same contention that was previously rejected). Therefore, in reviewing the dismissal of the breach of contract claim pursuant to Rule 1-012(B)(6), and the refusal of the district court to allow Plaintiff to file her proposed amended complaint, we consider (1) the contents of Plaintiff's complaint and the proposed amended complaint, assuming that the facts alleged therein are true, and (2) the attached documents which purport to constitute an enforceable contract. See Kirkpatrick v. Introspect Healthcare Corp., 114 N.M. 706, 709, 845 P.2d 800, 803 (1992).

DISCUSSION

The Complaint and Proposed Amended Complaint

{14} In support of her claim for breach of contract, Plaintiff's complaint includes the following allegations: "[T]hree days after the rape, Plaintiff informed her coach ... [who] did not direct or recommend that the Plaintiff contact the police and ... did not instruct the Plaintiff to get immediate medical attention to preserve evidence of the rape." Plaintiff's coach was immediately directed by WNMU officials to "cease any assistance to Plaintiff." Neither Defendant WNMU nor its agents convened "a `Crisis Intervention Team' as required by the WNMU Student Handbook." After promising Plaintiff that she would receive findings and conclusions from the "Student Appeals Hearing Committee" within two days of the investigation, Plaintiff was never given written findings. Plaintiff was verbally informed that the Student Appeals Committee had determined that WNMU would not take any disciplinary action in the matter "`because alcohol had been used by all parties.'" WNMU officials told local newspapers that an investigation was still ongoing two days after Plaintiff was verbally informed that no disciplinary action would be taken. Plaintiff was "intentionally misinformed and mislead [sic] by Defendant and its agents since reporting the rape to her coach." Defendants' deliberate indifference to Plaintiff's sexual assault caused her to resign from the basketball team and discouraged other female students from reporting acts of sexual assault to WNMU administration. Defendants represented to Plaintiff "verbally and in writing, that [WNMU] would provide Plaintiff with a school free from...