Document Type
Brief
Publication Date
8-2-2017
Abstract
Mr. Seawright, a State Farm insurance agent, failed to provide adequate information to make informed decisions about whether (and in what amount) the plaintiffs should purchase uninsured or unknown motorist (“UM”) coverage. Plaintiffs brought a putative class action alleging that Mr. Seawright violated New Mexico’s Unfair Practices Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 57-1-1 to -19 (“the UPA”), which entitles anyone harmed by an unfair business practice to “bring an action to recover actual damages or the sum of one hundred dollars ($100), whichever is greater.” § 57-12-10(B).
Because § 57-12-10(B) of the UPA requires a loss of money or property” to sue and § 57-12-10(E) expressly limits class-wide recovery to “actual damages, Mr. Seawright moved to dismiss Plaintiffs’ individual and class claims. The trial court obliged, dismissing Plaintiffs’ operative complaint, with prejudice.
On appeal, Plaintiffs ask this Court to construe § 57-12-10(E) to permit class-wide recovery of statutory damages. In the alternative, Plaintiffs contend that § 57-12-10(E)’s express limitation of class-wide recovery to “actual damages” lacks any “rational basis” in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the New Mexico Constitution, N.M. Const. art. II, § 18.
Publication Title
First Judicial District Court
City
Santa Fe
Volume
No. A-1-CA-35699
Issue
No. D-0101-CV-2013-10293
First Page
1
Last Page
31
Recommended Citation
Verónica C. Gonzales-Zamora & Harrold D. Stratton,
Brief for Washington Legal Foundation as Amici Curiae, Arguedas v. Seawright,
No. A-1-CA-35699
First Judicial District Court
1
(2017).
Available at:
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/law_facultyscholarship/764
