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Cooper v. Amerada Hess Corp.9/15/2000
DS?
New Mexico's general venue statute is codified at NMSA 1978, § 38- 3-1 (1876, as amended through 1988). The principal question presented by this appeal is whether Plaintiffs' claims involve an interest in lands within the meaning of Section 38-3-1(D)(1). That statute provides as follows: "When lands or any interest in lands are the object of any suit in whole or in part, the suit shall be brought in the county where the land or any portion of the land is situate."
We begin our analysis by reviewing the historical background of Section 38-3-1(D)(1). See Munroe v. Wall, 66 N.M. 15, 18, 340 P.2d 1069, 1070 (1959) ("One guide in the construction of a statute that has been found to be most useful to the courts is the consideration of the history and prior condition of a particular law."). The first statute regulating venue in civil actions became effective on September 22, 1846, as part of the Kearny Code of Laws. Geck v. Sheperd, 1 N.M. 346 (1859). That statute, 1846 N.M. Laws, Practice at Law in Civil Suits, § 4 (Kearny Code), provided as follows:
Suits instituted by citation shall be brought in the county in which the defendant resides, or in the county in which the plaintiff resides, and the defendant may be found; in cases where the defendant is a resident of this territory such suit may be commenced in any county.
In 1851, the Territorial Legislature enacted a new venue statute. 1865 Rev. Stat and Laws, art. XII, ch. XXVII, § 7 (1851) (the 1851 Act). The 1851 Act provided as follows:
Every person shall be sued in the county in which he lives, except in the following cases, that is to say:
1st. A married woman when liable to be sued, shall be sued in the county in which her husband resides.
2d. When a defendant has inherited an estate concerning which any one may wish to institute a suit, he shall be sued in the county in which the estate is situated.
3d. When a defendant has contracted to perform an obligation in a particular county, he shall be sued in the county in which he has engaged to perform the contract.
4th. When the defendant has committed some crime for which a civil action for damages may be maintained, in such case he may be sued in the county in which the crime was committed, or wherever he may be found.
5th. In case the defendant may be a transient person, he may be sued in whatever county he may be found.
6th. When suit is brought for the recovery of moveable property, it shall be brought in whatever county the property may be found.
7th. In cases against guardians, curators, executors and administrators, the parties may be sued in the county in which any such persons were appointed to any of said trusts, in the county in which the property in controversy may be found, or in the county in which the defendant may live; it being optionary with the plaintiff.
8th. In cases of delinquencies or frauds in public officers, they may be sued in the county in which the fraud or delinquency occurred, or in which the defendant may be found.
9th. When lands are the object of the suit, it shall be brought in the county in which the lands are situated.
10th. When two or more persons liable to be made defendants in the same suit, if it be in the nature of a transitory action, the suit may be brought in the county in which either of the proposed defendants may reside.
In 1853, the Legislature repealed the 1851 Act, apparently because the ten exceptions had proved "oppressive" to defendants and of "doubtful expediency." Geck, 1 N.M. at 353. In place of the 1851 Act, the Legis
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