7 results for 'judge:"Zamora"'.
J. Zamora holds that the compensation benefits sections for permanent total disability and permanent partial disability of the Workers’ Compensation Act violate the equal protection clause of the New Mexico Constitution. The employer asks why the term “secondary physical impairment” was coined by the appeals court. The New Mexico Supreme Court finds it inaccurate and that it should have been avoided while analyzing similarly situated workers equal protection claims. Workers with secondary mental impairments are similarly situated to workers with physical impairments, and the worker does meet her burden to show that they were treated differently. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: April 1, 2024, Case #: S-1-SC-39225, Categories: Constitution, Equal Protection, Workers' Compensation
J. Zamora finds the appeals court improperly vacated defendant's second-degree murder conviction. While the prosecutor violated defendant's constitutional rights when they commented on his post-arrest silence during opening arguments, defendant was not prejudiced. He admitted he killed the victim at the scene of the crime and the jury was tasked only with determining whether provocation existed to justify the murder. Even if fully credited, defendant's testimony failed to establish the victim intended to harm him or was plotting with others to kill him, and so his decision to remain silent after he was arrested was immaterial to the case. Reversed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: January 22, 2024, Case #: S-1-SC-39294, Categories: Murder, Prosecutorial Misconduct, Self Incrimination
J. Zamora finds the appeals court erroneously overruled the auditor's initial decision to impose taxes and penalties on the prison. The state tax department auditor correctly determined the Tennessee private prison company was not entitled to safe harbor protection and a refund of certain gross tax receipts for the housing of federal inmates, as its direct invoicing of the U.S. Marshals for such services did not allow for the issue of a nontaxable transaction certificate. Reversed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: January 16, 2024, Case #: S-1-SC-38681, Categories: Licensing, Tax
J. Zamora finds that because defendant parked his grandmother's vehicle lawfully in front of her residence when he was pulled over for a broken taillight, the police search of the vehicle prior to towing and impound that led to the discovery of drug paraphernalia was unreasonable and violated his Fourth Amendment rights. Although the registered owner of the car was not there at the time of the search, it was not in an open area, as the arresting officer claimed, but was lawfully parked where there was no increased threat of theft or property damage, which precluded a warrantless search. Affirmed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: December 18, 2023, Case #: S-1-SC-39186, Categories: Drug Offender, Search, Vehicle
[Consolidated.] J. Zamora finds that to comply with New Mexico law regarding insurance policy disclosures, insurers must include language about stacking underinsured motorists benefits in policy application forms to give policyholders adequate information before they select coverage. Therefore, decisions in the two cases where policyholders were denied stacking coverage will be vacated and the cases remanded for further development. Reversed in part.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: October 2, 2023, Case #: S-1-SC-36580, Categories: Insurance, Contract
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J. Zamora finds the New Mexico Public Regulation Commission didn’t err when it denied an application from a utility company seeking to abandon interest in a power plant. The utility company had not fully complied with rules governing such abandonment, and the commission’s decision was therefore not arbitrary or capricious. Affirmed in part.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: July 6, 2023, Case #: S-1-SC-39138, Categories: Administrative Law, Energy, Government
J. Zamora finds a lower court erred when it denied a motion by prosecutors to detain defendant prior to trial in a murder case. The lower court failed to adequately consider factors that justified pretrial detention, including defendant’s “dangerousness,” “extensive criminal history” and past “failures to appear.” Reversed.
Court: New Mexico Supreme Court, Judge: Zamora, Filed On: May 22, 2023, Case #: S-1-SC-39744, Categories: Murder, Bail, Due Process