Opinions
All court opinions may be accessed at no charge via PACER through the "Written Opinions" link on the Reports page. You must, however, have an account to access the report via CM/ECF or PACER.
Access to opinions from 1997 to present, that are PDF searchable, unrestricted & unsealed, are also available through the Government Printing Office using the Advanced Search for Government Publications. There is no login required and publications are available free of charge.
Court Opinions Database
The court's provides free access of some opinions, at the discretion of the judges, for the years 1998 to present. The results shown below are automatically displayed for all years, all judges, and all keywords/topics.
A search may be performed using the Search box above, or filtering by year, judge, and/or keyword/topic. To search for more than one judge and/or keywords/topics simultaneously, hold down the Ctrl key (or Command key) and select each item.
| Keywords/Topic | Date | Title | Description | Judge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adversary, Summary Judgment | 04/03/2020 | Edward Alexander Mazel et al v. Las Cruces Abstract and Title Co. et al |
Chapter 7 trustee, acting on behalf of individual Debtor’s bankruptcy estate and the LLC of which Debtor was formerly the managing member brought several claims against a national title insurance company for damages arising from negligence and other alleged wrongful conduct of a local title insurance company, which acted as a title insurance agent for the national title insurance company. The Court held that the debtor, in his individual capacity and therefore the trustee in his representative capacity, had no standing to bring the claims which belonged exclusively to the LLC. The Court granted summary judgment in favor of the national title insurance company as to all claims brought by the Trustee on behalf of Debtor’s bankruptcy estate.
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Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Default Judgment, Nondischargeability, Summary Judgment | 12/13/2019 | Gretchen Welch v. David Tracy Giron |
Plaintiff moved for summary judgment, asking that her California state default judgment against debtor-defendant (domesticated in New Mexico) be found to be nondischargeable. The Court denies plaintiff’s motion because while the state court judgment definitively established the amount of the debt, the Court will not grant issue preclusive effect to the state court judgment, and a judgment for plaintiff would be inequitable under these facts.
|
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Avoidance Actions, Summary Judgment | 01/25/2019 | Dedee Diana Brakhahn v. Marvin and Linda Nash et al |
Plaintiff sought to avoid Defendant’s unrecorded special master’s deed to Plaintiff’s former homestead. Defendant argued that a bona fide purchaser would be on notice of the foreclosure action because the lien at issue was a transcript of judgment. The Court ruled that the transcript of judgment was sufficient to put a bona fide purchaser on notice. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Jurisdiction, Standing, Summary Judgment | 10/15/2018 | Marvis Wynn et al v. Innovations Credit Union |
Defendant filed for summary judgment on all claims. The court dismissed the claims filed by the non-debtor co-plaintiff for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, and granted summary judgment against the debtor plaintiff because he did not support his position with any evidence. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Dischargeability, Nondischargeability, Summary Judgment | 08/16/2018 | The Estate of Wayne Marshall Coleman v. Michelle Renee Mladek |
Plaintiff brought a nondischargeability action against defendant under sec. 523(a)(2) and (a)(6), based on defendant's filing an improper claim of lien on plaintiff's property and attempting to quiet title to the property in defendant. Defendant filed a motion for summary judgment on both counts. Plaintiff conceded that summary judgment was appropriate on its 523(a)(2) claim. The court ruled that there were fact issues precluding summary judgment on the 523(a)(6) claim. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Discharge, Discharge Injunction, Sanctions, Statutory Construction, Summary Judgment | 02/10/2017 | Sprague v. Williams et al |
Plaintiff asserted Defendants violated the discharge injunction and a court order when they took action, post-discharge, to foreclose judgment liens. The Court declined to certify that issue to the New Mexico Supreme Court, as it required an analysis of the interplay between state and federal bankruptcy law. The Court concluded that while a judgment lien ordinarily attaches to redeemed property under state law, Section 524 alters the analysis by cutting off lien attachment to property acquired after discharge. The Court therefore entered summary judgment on liability, finding that Defendants violated the discharge injunction by attempting to collect a deficiency judgment from Plaintiff's redeemed property, to which the judgment lien had not attached. The Court also declined to assess Rule 11 sanctions, set aside a stipulated order, and compel discovery. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Avoidance Actions, Statutory Construction, Summary Judgment | 02/08/2017 | Aquatic Pools Inc. |
Debtor sought to avoid penalties accruing post-petition on otherwise perfected federal tax liens, on the theory that penalties accruing after lien notices were filed were unperfected. Court concluded that the pre-petition penalties are perfected. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Discharge Injunction, Reaffirmation Agreements, Stay Violation, Summary Judgment | 06/03/2016 | Floyd White et al v. Cannon Federal Credit Union |
Creditor moved for summary judgment that its collection of a discharged debt did not violate the automatic stay and discharge injunction. The court held that fact issues about whether the loan was secured; whether the debtors voluntarily agreed to pay the loansumm; and whether there was a valid novation, all prevented entry of summary judgment. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Automatic Stay, Damages, Stay Violation, Summary Judgment | 05/11/2015 | George P. Velasquez v. Los Alamos National Bank |
Debtor sought emotional distress damages, punitive damages, fees, and costs for willful violation of the automatic stay. Creditor filed papers in the state court after entry of the stay relief order but before the expiration of the 14-day stay contained in Rule 4001(a)(3). The court denied debtor's request to conduct additional discovery on summary judgment because debtor failed to demonstrate how the requested discovery would create a fact issue. The court also found that debtor suffered no damages as a result of the stay violation, which occurred only 5 days before the stay terminated and was immediately remedied. |
Judge David T. Thuma | |
| Collateral Estoppel, Nondischargeability, Summary Judgment | 04/22/2015 | The Northern New Mexico Orthopaedic Center, P.C., v. Auge et al. |
Plaintiff sought summary judgment that its debt was nondischargeable, based on pre-petition state court judgment. The court that the state court findings were sufficient to support summary judgment that defendant embezzled funds from plaintiff, but denied summary judgment on the balance of the claims. |
Judge David T. Thuma |