“Former justice Paul Kennedy applies for Supreme Court position”

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 24, 2012

The Farmington Daily Times has this report stating that a third lawyer — prominent civil rights attorney Paul Kennedy of Albuquerque — has applied to fill the Justice Patricio Serna’s seat on the New Mexico Suprem Court.  The report explains that the Judicial Nominating Commission “released a partial list of applicants on Monday and it failed to include Kennedy.”  The Nominating Commission’s website has now rectified the apparent oversight.

The report notes that Kennedy served as a justice for a few months during 2002.  I have worked with Kennedy on some cases, and in my opinion he is well-respected in the legal community and is eminently qualified to serve on the Supreme Court.

The report does not say whether Kennedy will seek the Republican nomination for the seat, but if he does and obtains it, he could well face one of my partners, either John Kelly or Michelle Hernandez, both of whom are seeking the Democratic nomination, and either of whom would also be a terrific addition to the Court.

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Two lawyers apply for seat on New Mexico Supreme Court

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 24, 2012

Yesterday the New Mexico Judicial Nominating Commission announced that two attorneys, Paul D. Mannick of Santa Fe and Steven S. Suttle of Albuquerque, have applied for the seat on the New Mexico Supreme Court that Justice Patricio Serna will retire from on August 31.

Mr. Mannick’s website notes that he has been a lawyer for over 20 years and focuses on representing plaintiffs in medical malpractice cases.  The background section of his website reveals that he is a 1988 graduate of UNM Law School, and that he received a Ph.D. from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, which sounds very impressive indeed.

I could not find a website for Mr. Suttle, but a Lexis search reveals that he formerly worked in the District Attorney’s office in Albuquerque and as an Assistant Attorney General, and that he previously applied to the Nominating Commission in 2008 for a seat on the New Mexico Court of Appeals.  The State Bar’s Bench & Bar Directory for 2012-13 lists Mr. Suttle as an “inactive member” as of March 2012, but presumably since then he has taken the steps necessary to activate his State Bar membership.

Unfortunately I don’t recall ever having met Mr. Mannick, but I did have some brief interaction with Mr. Suttle in a case several years ago, and remember him as being very professional.

In any event, good luck to both of these gentlemen!  The Nominating Commission meets on August 7 at 9:00 a.m. at the Supreme Court Building in Santa Fe, to decide whether to send their names on to Governor Martinez.  The meeting is open to the public.

 

 

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Tenth Circuit reverses $13 million jury verdict against BP America

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 20, 2012

On Wednesday, the Tenth Circuit, in Abraham v. BP America Production Company, reversed a $13 million jury verdict against the defendant in a royalty dispute because irrelevant and prejudicial evidence was admitted.  The decision, by Judge Paul Kelly, contains an important reminder that a party cannot introduce improper evidence and stress it to the jury, and then later argue that the error was harmless. Continue reading →

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“Five Things to Know About Tenth Circuit Judge Stephanie Seymour”

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 13, 2012

The FindLaw 10th Circuit News and Information Blog has this interesting post about Judge Stephanie Seymour, which begins “Back in the 80s and 90s, the name Stephanie Seymour was most commonly associated with Guns’N’Roses videos and Vogue editorials. But as Axl Rose’s former girlfriend left modeling behind for domestic er, tranquility, it made room for another Stephanie Seymour, who had been waiting in the wings to reclaim her name.”

How can you resist reading a post that starts like that?

 

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“Appeals court sides with Doña Ana County clerk in barring judge candidate”

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 13, 2012

Brian Fraga has this report in the Las Cruces Sun-News about a recent decision of the New Mexico Court of Appeals, upholding the Doña Ana County clerk’s decision to bar a candidate for magistrate court judge from appearing on the ballot because he is not a licensed attorney.  (The opinion has not yet appeared on the websites of the New Mexico Court of Appeals or of the New Mexico Compilation Commission.).

That raises an interesting question — should a judge be required to have a law degree?  People are sometimes surprised to learn that the Constitution does not require justices of the U.S. Supreme Court to have a law degree.  I think most people would want a judge to have some legal knowledge, but if a U.S. Supreme Court justice does not have to have a law degree, why should lower court judges?  What do you think?

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Profile of candidate for the New Mexico Supreme Court — Judge Barbara Vigil

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 11, 2012

It has come to my attention that in late June, Democracy for New Mexico posted this profile of Democratic candidate Barbara Vigil, who is the Chief Judge of New Mexico’s First Judicial District Court.   Well worth reading.  I don’t know whether the website plans to have profiles of the other two announced candidates.

 

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Profile of candidate for the New Mexico Supreme Court — Michelle Hernandez

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 11, 2012

The progressive website, Democracy for New Mexico, has this profile on my law partner, Michelle Hernandez, who is one of the four candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination to replace Justice Patricio Serna after he retires in August.

The other three Democratic candidates of whom I am aware are Judicial District Chief Judge Barbara Vigil, Workers’ Compensation Judge Victor Lopez, and another of my partners, John Kelly.

 

 

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Deadline set to apply for open seat on New Mexico Supreme Court

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 11, 2012

The New Mexico Judicial Nominating Commission has announced that July 23 is the deadline to apply for the seat on the New Mexico Supreme Court that will be open as of August 31 upon the retirement of Justice Patricio M. Serna.  Click here for more information or to obtain an application.

The Commission will meet at the Supreme Court building in Santa Fe on August 7 to interview the applicants for the position.  The Commission will then forward a list of applicants it deems qualified for the seat to Governor Martinez, who will have 30 days to appoint someone from that list.

 

 

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Court of Appeals confirms that deemed denied provision in statute is no longer valid.

by Emil J. Kiehne Posted on July 10, 2012

In the past, New Mexico’s rules governing post-judgment motions contained many “deemed denied” provisions.  For example, if a post-judgment motion were timely filed, and the district court did not act on the motion within 30 days, the motion was deemed denied, and the losing party would then have 30 days in which to file a notice of appeal.

The deemed denied provisions had the merit of expediting cases.  If you lost a case at trial, you would probably be in the Court of Appeals in short order.  That’s important in a jurisdiction like New Mexico, which imposes a whopping 15% annual post-judgment interest rate on tort judgments, and an 8.75% rate on non-tort judgments.

But the deemed denied provisions also had some disadvantages.  Continue reading →

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