Whittington v. State

• Decision Date: 05 May 2000
• Docket Number: No. 19,065.,19,065.
• Parties: Stephen R. WHITTINGTON, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. STATE of New Mexico DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Darren P. White, in his capacity as Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, and Frank Taylor, in his capacity as the Chief of the New Mexico State Police, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

4 P.3d 668
129 N.M. 221
2000 NMCA 55

Stephen R. WHITTINGTON, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
STATE of New Mexico DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, Darren P. White, in his capacity as Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety, and Frank Taylor, in his capacity as the Chief of the New Mexico State Police, Defendants-Appellees

No. 19,065.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

May 5, 2000.

Certiorari Granted June 28, 2000.

4 P.3d 669

Jill Henson, Rowley Law Firm P.C., Clovis, for Appellants

Ellen S. Casey, S. Barry Paisner, Hinkle, Cox, Eaton, Coffield & Hensley, L.L.P., Santa Fe, for Appellees.

Mark B. Stern, Robert M. Loeb, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., Amicus Curiae for United States.

Carl J. Butkus, Butkus & Reimer, P.C., Albuquerque, Amicus Curiae for John Raymond, et al.

Certiorari Granted, No. 26,362, June 28, 2000.

OPINION

ALARID, Judge.

{1} On December 29, 1999, we withdrew on our own motion our previous opinion, filed on September 13, 1999. The following opinion hereby is substituted in its place.

{2} On remand from the United States Supreme Court, we reconsider our decision in Whittington v. Department of Public Safety, 1998-NMCA-156, 126 N.M. 21, 966 P.2d 188, judgment vacated by New Mexico Dept. of Public Safety v. Whittington, 119 S.Ct. 2388 (1999), in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Alden v. Maine, 527 U.S. 706, 119 S.Ct. 2240, 144 L.Ed.2d 636 (1999). Upon doing so we affirm the decision of the district court.

{3} On September 3, 1998, we held that the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution does not give the State of New Mexico Department of Public Safety (the Department) sovereign immunity from suit in state court for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C §§ 201-219 (1978). See generally Whittington, 1998-NMCA-156, 126 N.M. 21, 966 P.2d 188. Consequently, we reversed the district court's decision to dismiss the Appellants' suit against the Department. See id. ¶ 16. The New Mexico Supreme Court subsequently denied the Department's petition for a writ of certiorari, see Whittington v. Department of Public Safety, 126 N.M. 534, 972 P.2d 353 (1998), and the Department appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, see Whittington, 119 S.Ct. at 2388.

{4} The United States Supreme Court addressed the same issues presented in Whittington in its decision in Alden. In Alden, a group of probation officers sued the State of Maine in federal district court for...