The docket fee is $125.00 for filing an appeal and $20.00 for filing a motion to dismiss for failure to file a docketing statement. NMSA 1978 §34-5- 6 (2003) There are no other fees required to process the appeal. However, if you want copies of documents, there is a charge.
The court hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. (excluding holidays)
You can download a PDF copy from the opinions section of this website.
See NMRA 12-307.1, which provides that pleadings may be faxed only if no fee is required and only the original is required to be filed. There are also many other requirements, and you should consult the rule to learn of them all. This website provides a link to the rules. The Court’s fax number is (505) 827-4946.
Court of Appeals
P.O. Box 2008
Santa Fe, NM 87504-2008
Albuquerque Satellite Office
2211 Tucker Ave. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
Court of Appeals
237 Don Gaspar, Room 116
Santa Fe, NM 87501
Albuquerque Satellite Office
2211 Tucker Rd NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
Refer to the NM Courts websites.
Call 505-827-4925 for instruction
Call 505-827-4925 (for criminal, juvenile & sequestered, or after an opinion is filed)
Call 505-841-4618 (for civil, domestic, probate)
See NMRA 12-202 regarding filing a notice of appeal.
See NMRA 12-203 regarding filing Interlocutory appeals.
See also NMRA 12-204, 12-205, 12-502, 12-503.
Consult the Pro Se Videos for information on filing a civil appeal.
Call 505-827-4925 or 505-841-4618 to check on the status.
Yes.
A motion for extension of time can be filed. See NMRA 12-309.
Call 505-827-4925 or 505-841-4618
Call 505-827-4925 or 505-841-4618
The answer to this question depends on many factors. From the time you file your notice of appeal to the time of decision can be as short as two months or as long as two and one-half years. A decision in two months requires that you file your docketing statement immediately after the notice of appeal and requires that the appeal be decided on the summary calendar and that everything else happens as quickly as possible. Usually, however, cases on the summary calendar take an average of five to six months to decide from notice of appeal to decision. Cases assigned to the general calendar take an average of a year and one-half to decide from notice of appeal to decision. On the general calendar, the time from submission to decision averages six months. However five percent of the Court’s cases assigned to the general calendar will take longer than one year from submission to decision.
When the docketing statement is filed, the Court needs to wait for the record proper before it will refer the case to its prehearing division to make a calendaring recommendation. Some districts send the record proper to the Court of Appeals within a week and other districts take several weeks to a couple of months. Then, the staff attorneys in the prehearing division will usually take two weeks, but sometimes (in a very unusual case) as long as six weeks, to make a calendaring recommendation, and the calendaring judge will decide whether to accept that recommendation within a few days. Two months is probably the average time it takes to calendar a case after the filing of the docketing statement.
This is not unusual at all. The Court’s average time from notice of disposition to opinion is over two months, so most cases will take more than a month from your memorandum in opposition to decide. In addition, it is not infrequent that the participating judges will take some time to decide whether they want to join in the summary memorandum opinion. If a case takes a long time to decide, it could mean that one or more judges do not agree, and then the case will be reassigned to another summary calendar or to a general calendar. But taking a long time does not necessarily mean that there will be a change in calendar.
You can always file a motion asking for these things that are not provided for in the rules.
The panel assigned to the case makes the decision, and as with all Court of Appeals decisions, the majority of the panel (two judges of the three assigned) make the decision. The criteria for memorandum opinions are contained in NMRA 12-405(B), and they generally concern whether the case result is determined by settled New Mexico law: either statutory, rule, or case law or the presence of substantial evidence or absence of harm to the complaining party. If out-of- jurisdiction authorities need to be cited, it is generally a sign that the opinion needs to be formal. Even if all of the authorities cited are New Mexico authorities, an opinion may be issued in formal form if the judges think that it will provide needed guidance to the bench and bar.
See the answer to question 23. A motion can always be filed, but the Court does not frequently grant these motions. A formal opinion takes much more time, both judge time and staff time, to craft and check for technical errors. While the judges are always satisfied that the result is correct, regardless of whether the opinion is to be published or unpublished, once they have made the decision to file an unpublished opinion, they must be presented with weighty reasons to change to a published opinion, which will likely involve much more work.
Twenty to twenty-five percent of the cases originally assigned to the summary calendar get reassigned to a non-summary calendar following a memorandum in opposition. Many people have the misperception that staff attorneys write the notices of proposed disposition with little input from judges and that such notices should be freely disparaged in the memorandum in opposition to catch judicial attention and warrant a calendar reassignment. In fact, the calendaring judge will not infrequently make substantial changes in the draft written by the staff attorneys. Respectful disagreement with the notice of proposed disposition, including specifically pointing out where it is inconsistent with the facts of the case or with the law, will frequently result in a change of disposition.
Yes. Case law requires that pro se parties are bound by all of the rules, just as attorneys are. Case law also provides that, when there is no prejudice to the other side, technical rule violations will be overlooked so that cases will be decided on their merits. The Court applies this rule equally to self-represented and attorney-represented litigants.
No. Unfortunately, the court does not currently have an electronic filing system. If budget and resources allow, the court may transition to electronic filing in the near future.