N.M. R. Civ. P. Magist. Ct. 2-105

As amended through November 1, 2024

Rule 2-105 - Assignment and designation of judges

A.Assignment. In magistrate courts with two or more judges, cases shall be assigned randomly among the judges of the court under a selection system administered by the Supreme Court, unless the presiding judge orders otherwise for good cause shown. Once a judge is assigned to hear a case that judge shall have sole responsibility for the case and no other judge may take any action on the case except

(1) in cases where the judge has been reassigned because the assigned judge has been recused, is excused, is sick, or is otherwise unavailable and another judge has been assigned; or

(2) with the approval of the assigned judge and all of the parties.

B.Reassignment.

(1)Courts with two or more judges. In magistrate courts with two or more judges, upon receipt of a notice of excusal or upon recusal, the magistrate court shall give written notice to the parties to the action.

(a)Recusal. Upon recusal, the selection system administered by the Supreme Court shall randomly assign another magistrate judge first, to another judge in the originating court, or, if all of those judges have been excused or have recused, to another judge in the same magistrate district to preside over the case unless for good cause shown the presiding magistrate shall make a specific assignment. In situations where recusal would be required for multiple judges in a magistrate district, recusing magistrate judges may enter a joint recusal prior to formal assignment by the selection system in order to expedite the recusal process.

(b)Excusal; reassignment. Upon the filing of a notice of excusal, the selection system administered by the Supreme Court shall randomly reassign the case first, to another judge in the originating court, or, if all of those judges have been excused or have recused, to another judge in the same magistrate district, unless the presiding judge determines that there is justifiable reason to assign a case to a particular judge and the reason is included in the notice of reassignment.

(c)Designation by district court. If all magistrate judges in the magistrate district have been excused or have recused themselves, one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings. The magistrate court shall send notice of the reassignment to the parties. The district court's order of designation shall be entered at the beginning of the calendar year.

(2)Other courts. In magistrate courts with only one magistrate judge, upon receipt of a notice of excusal or upon recusal, the magistrate court shall give written notice to the parties to the action.

(a)Recusal. Upon recusal, another magistrate judge of the magistrate district shall be randomly assigned to preside over the case by the selection system administered by the Supreme Court.

(b)Excusal. Upon the filing of the notice of excusal, another magistrate judge of the magistrate district shall be randomly assigned to preside over the case by the selection system administered by the Supreme Court.

(c)Designation by district court. If all the magistrate judges in the magistrate district have recused themselves or been excused, one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings. The magistrate court shall send notice of the reassignment to the parties. The district court's order of designation shall be entered at the beginning of the calendar year.

C.Assignment out-of-district. If a judge or an employee of the magistrate district in which a civil proceeding is pending is a party to that proceeding, no judge of the magistrate district may hear the matter and one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings. The magistrate court shall send notice of the reassignment to the parties.

D.Assignment of direct criminal contempt cases. Cases of direct criminal contempt shall be assigned to the judge before whom the contempt occurred.

E.Reassignment to multiple cases. The district court judge may designate a magistrate judge from another magistrate district to sit in actions arising in a particular magistrate district for a specific period of time.

F.Subsequent proceedings. All proceedings shall be conducted in the original magistrate court, except that with the consent of all parties and the assigned judge, proceedings may be held in another magistrate court in the same judicial district in which the original magistrate court is located. The clerk of the original magistrate court shall continue to be responsible for the court file and shall perform such further duties as may be required. Within five (5) business days after assignment or designation of a new judge, the clerk shall make a copy of the court file for the designated judge and forward it to the judge. Within ten (10) business days of adjudication of the case, the original documents of the adjudication shall be forwarded to the clerk of the original magistrate court for filing.

G.Unavailability of judge. At any time during the pendency of the proceedings if the assigned judge is unavailable, the assigned judge may designate another judge of the magistrate district to hear any matter that is not dispositive of the case or the parties may agree on another judge to hear any matter, including the merits of the case. The agreement is subject to the approval of the assigned judge and the judge agreed upon by the parties. If another judge is agreed upon to hear the merits of the case, the case shall be reassigned to that judge.

N.M. R. Civ. P. Magist. Ct. 2-105

As amended, effective 5/1/1986;10/1/1987;9/1/1989;11/1/1995;5/1/2002; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-016, effective 5/14/2010; by Supreme Court Order No. 13-8300-004, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after5/5/2013; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 15-8300-006, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after12/31/2015; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 17-8300-026, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after12/31/2017.

ANNOTATIONS The 2017 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 17-8300-026, effective December 31, 2017, removed the provisions allowing the parties to stipulate to a replacement judge after a magistrate judge has been excused, removed the time limit within which a district court judge will be assigned to a case in which all magistrate judges in the magistrate district have been excused or have recused themselves, and removed the provision allowing the parties to file a stipulation designating a magistrate judge to preside over a matter in a civil proceeding where a judge or an employee of the same magistrate district is a party to that proceeding; in Paragraph B, Subparagraph B(1)(b), in the heading, after "Excusal", added "; reassignment", and in the first sentence, after "notice of excusal", deleted "the magistrate court shall give written notice to the parties to the action. Upon the filing of a notice of excusal, the parties or their counsel may agree to another judge of the magistrate district to preside over the case and this agreement shall be contained in the notice of excusal.", deleted the former subparagraph designation and heading "(c) Reassignment." and the language "If the parties fail to agree on a judge", added the remaining language from former Subparagraph B(1)(c) to Subparagraph B(1)(b), and redesignated former Subparagraph B(1)(d) as Subparagraph B(1)(c), and after "the Supreme Court shall", deleted "within ten (10) days", and in Subparagraph B(1)(c), after "recused themselves", deleted "within ten (10) days after service of the last notice of excusal or recusal", in Subparagraph B(2)(b), after "notice of excusal", deleted "the parties or their counsel may agree to another judge of the magistrate district to preside over the case. This agreement shall be contained in the Notice of Excusal. Upon excusal", in Subparagraph B(2)(c), after "or been excused", deleted "within ten (10) days after filing of the last notice of recusal or excusal"; and in Paragraph C, after "may hear the matter", deleted "without written agreement of the parties. If within ten (10) days after the proceeding is filed, the parties have not filed a stipulation designating a judge to preside over the matter" and added "and". The 2015 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 15-8300-006, effective December 31, 2015, provided for joint recusal to expedite the recusal process in situations where recusal would be required for multiple judges, modified the procedure for assigning a judge when all the magistrate judges in a magistrate district have been excused or recused themselves, modified the procedure for assigning a judge when, in a pending proceeding, a judge or employee of the magistrate district is a party to that proceeding, and made stylistic changes; in Paragraph A, after "In", deleted "those" and added "magistrate"; in Subparagraph B(1), after "recusal", deleted "the magistrate or clerk of"; in Subparagraph B(1)(a), added the last sentence; in Subparagraph B(1)(b), after "excusal", deleted "the judge or clerk of" and after the second occurrence of "the", added "magistrate"; in Subparagraph B(1)(d), in the heading, deleted "Certification to" and added "Designation by", after "If all", deleted "magistrates" and added "magistrate judges", after "excusal or recusal", deleted "the presiding magistrate shall certify that fact by letter to the district court of the county in which the action is pending and the district court shall designate another magistrate" and added "one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned", after "proceedings. The", deleted "district" and added "magistrate", after "send notice of", deleted "its designation" and added "the reassignment", after "the parties", deleted "or their counsel, to the excused or recused magistrate and to the designated magistrate" and added the last sentence; in Subparagraph B(2), after the second occurrence of "magistrate", added "judge", and after the third occurrence of "magistrate", added "court"; in Subparagraph B(2)(c), in the heading, deleted "Certification to" and added "Designation by", after "If all the", deleted "magistrates" and added "magistrate judges", after "notice of recusal or excusal", deleted "the magistrate of the court where the action was first filed shall certify that fact by letter to the district court of the county in which the action is pending and the district court shall designate another magistrate" and added "one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned", after "proceedings. The", deleted "district" and added "magistrate", after "shall send notice of", deleted "its designation" and added "the reassignment", after "the parties", deleted "or their counsel, to the excused magistrate and to the designated magistrate" and added the last sentence; in Paragraph C, after "preside over the matter", deleted "the clerk shall request the district court to designate a judge" and added "one of the judges on the district court's order of designation shall be randomly assigned to conduct any further proceedings.", after "The", deleted "district" and added "magistrate", after "shall send notice of", deleted "its designation" and added "the reassignment", after "the parties", deleted "or their counsel and to the magistrate court"; and in Paragraph E, after "The district", added "court", and after the first occurrence of "magistrate", added "judge". The 2013 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 13-8300-004, effective May 5, 2013, prohibited a magistrate judge from hearing a civil matter in which a magistrate judge or employee of the magistrate district is a party without the written agreement of the parties; in Paragraph C, in the first sentence, after "If", deleted "a criminal proceeding is filed"; after "magistrate district in which a", deleted "criminal" and added "civil"; and after "civil proceeding is pending", added "is a party to that proceeding". The 2010 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 10-8300-016, effective May 14, 2010, re-lettered former Paragraphs A, B, and C as Paragraphs B, F, and G, respectively; added new Paragraph A; in Paragraph B, changed the title of Paragraph B from "Procedure for replacing a magistrate upon excusal or recusal" to "Reassignment"; in Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, in the introductory sentence, added the title of Subparagraph (1), and after "In magistrate", changed "districts which have a presiding magistrate" to "courts with two or more judges"; in Item (a) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, deleted the former language of Item (a) which provided that within ten days after service of a notice of excusal or recusal the parties may agree upon another judge of the magistrate district to try the case and that if the parties fail to agree upon a new judge, the presiding magistrate of the district shall assign another magistrate to try the case, and added the title and the current language of Item (a); in Item (b) of Subsection (1) of Paragraph B, deleted the former language of Item (b) which provided that if the parties fail to agree upon a new judge, the presiding magistrate of the district shall, by random selection, assign another magistrate to try the case, and added the title and current language of Item (b); added Item (c) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B; in Item (d) of Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B, added the title of Item (d) and in the first sentence, after "If all magistrates in the", added "magistrate"; in Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B, added the title of Subparagraph (2) and in the introductory sentence, after "In magistrate", changed "districts which do not have a presiding magistrate" to "courts with only one magistrate"; in Item (a) of Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B, deleted the former language of Item (a) which provided that within ten days after service of notice of excusal or recusal, the parties may agree to another judge of the magistrate district to try the case, and added the title and the current language of Item (a); added Item (b) of Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B; in Item (c) of Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph C, added the title of Item (c); at the beginning of the first sentence, deleted "If the excused or recused magistrate has not received notice of such an agreement within ten (10) days after service of the notice of excusal or recusal, the excused or recused magistrate shall certify that fact by letter to the district court" and added the current language that occurs before "of the county in which the action is pending"; added Paragraphs C, D, and E; in Paragraph F, in the first sentence, after "conducted in the original magistrate court", added "except that with the consent of all parties and the assigned judge, proceedings may"; in the third sentence, after "Within five (5)", added "business"; after "designated judge", added "and forward it to the judge"; and added the last sentence; and in Paragraph G, changed the title from "Parties agree on trial judge" to "Unavailability of judge"; in the first sentence, after "assigned judge is unavailable", added "the assigned judge may designate another judge of the magistrate district to hear any matter that is not dispositive of the case or"; and added the last sentence. The 2002 amendment, effective May 1, 2002, added Paragraph C. The 1995 amendment, effective November 1, 1995, rewrote the rule.

For jurisdiction of magistrate to sit in any action arising in another magistrate district when designated by district judge because of unavailability of a magistrate in that magistrate district, see Section 35-3-6 NMSA 1978. For disqualification of magistrate, see Section 35-3-7 NMSA 1978. For form on certification of excusal or recusal, see Rule 4-102 NMRA. Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. - 46 Am. Jur. 2d Judges §§ 86, 88, 248, 251. Interlocutory ruling or order of one judge as binding on another in same case, 132 A.L.R. 14. Requiring successor judge to journalize finding or decision of predecessor, 4 A.L.R.2d 584. Power of successor judge taking office during term time to vacate, etc., judgment entered by his predecessor, 11 A.L.R.2d 1117. Receipt of verdict in civil case in absence of trial judge, 20 A.L.R.2d 281. Disqualification of original trial judge to sit on retrial after reversal or mistrial, 60 A.L.R.3d 176. Disqualification of judge, justice of the peace or similar judicial officer for pecuniary interest in fines, forfeitures or fees payable by litigants, 72 A.L.R.3d 375. Power of successor judge taking office during term time to vacate, set aside, or annul judgment entered by his or her predecessor, 51 A.L.R.5th 747. Power of successor or substituted judge, in civil case, to render decision or enter judgment on testimony heard by predecessor, 84 A.L.R.5th 399. 48A C.J.S. Judges §§ 36, 98 to 185.