Justia New Mexico Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Articles Posted in Real Estate Law
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Santa Fe Pacific Trust, Inc. (SFPT) and Bigbyte are Florida corporations doing business in New Mexico. SFPT owns land and an office building on Central Avenue in Albuquerque and leases most of its commercial space to Bigbyte. In 2006, SFPT filed a four-count complaint against the City of Albuquerque (the City) alleging that the City periodically stated its intention to condemn the Central Avenue property owned by SFPT and claiming damages for inverse condemnation and taking, deprivation of due process, and tortious interference with contract. The Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal as to Bigbyte because all of Bigbyte's claims had been disposed of by summary judgment one year earlier, making a November 2010 notice of appeal untimely. The Supreme Court addressed whether the interlocutory appeal language in the year-old summary judgment, which Bigbyte requested, should have been interpreted to mean that the summary judgment was not a final order. If the year-old summary judgment was not a final order, the Court of Appeals should not have dismissed the appeal. Based on the summary judgment language and Rules 1-054(B)(1)-(2) and 12-203 NMRA, the Supreme Court concluded that the summary judgment was a final order because all of Bigbyte's claims had been disposed of and the summary judgment did not contain express language stating that the summary judgment was not a final order as to Bigbyte. Therefore, the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' dismissal of the appeal.View "Santa Fe Pacific Trust, Inc. v. City of Albuquerque" on Justia Law