N.M. Sup. Gen. R. 23-112
N.M. Sup. Gen. R. 23-112
Committee commentary. - Self-represented litigants must follow the same rules of procedure that apply to other litigants. See Newsome v. Farer, 1985-NMSC-096, ¶ 18, 103 N.M. 415, 708 P.2d 327 ("Although pro se pleadings are viewed with tolerance, a pro se litigant, having chosen to represent himself, is held to the same standard of conduct and compliance with court rules, procedures, and orders as are members of the bar." (internal citation omitted)). However, Subparagraph (B)(3) provides a limited exception for self-represented litigants in recognition of the fact that they often lack access to electronic databases and other legal research materials.
[Adopted by Supreme Court Order No. 13-8300-013, effective July 1, 2013, for papers to be filed on or after August 1, 2013; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 22-8300-004, effective for pleadings and papers filed on or after March 31, 2022.]
ANNOTATIONS The 2013 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 13-8300-013, effective July 1, 2013, simplified and clarified the form of citations; provided that the form of citations in the appendix are guidelines, rather than required forms; provided for the assignment of official citations to precedential opinions by the Clerk of the Supreme Court; provided that the official citation form to opinions of New Mexico appellate courts and parallel citations to the New Mexico Reports are mandatory, that citations to the Pacific Reporter are discretionary, and that citations to New Mexico Appellate Reports are prohibited; provided that parallel citations by self-represented litigants are discretionary; required that citations to New Mexico statutes be to the New Mexico Statutes Annotated 1978 published by the New Mexico Compilation Commission; required that citations to New Mexico statutes be followed by a statement of the year of the statute's most recent enactment or amendment applicable to the pending case; required that citations to rules, jury instructions, and forms be to the New Mexico Rules Annotated published by the New Mexico Compilation Commission; revised the Appendix in its entirety; in Paragraph A, in the second sentence, after "Additional citations", deleted "requirements" and added "guidelines" and after "following this rule", added the remainder of the sentence; in Paragraph B, deleted the former title "State appellate citations" and added the current title; added Subparagraph (1) of Paragraph B; in Subparagraph (2) of Paragraph B, added the title of the subparagraph, in the first sentence, added "Use of the official citation form is required for", after "for citations to", added "all", and after "Court of Appeals", deleted "use of the vendor neutral citation with citation to both reporters is required", deleted the former second sentence, which required the use of the Bluebook form of citation for opinions that do not have a vendor neutral citation, added the second, third, and fourth sentences; added Subparagraph (3) of Paragraph B; deleted Paragraph C, which provided rules for citation of subsequent history; deleted Paragraph D which provided rules for pinpoint citations; in Paragraph C, in the first sentence, after "and section of the", added "official", after "New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA 1978)", added the remainder of the sentence, and added the second sentence; in Paragraph D, in the title of the paragraph, added "and forms", in the first sentence, after "Supreme Court shall be to the", added "set and rule number of the", after "New Mexico Statutes Annotated (NMSA 1978)", deleted "version by set and rule number" and added "which is the official compilation of the New Mexico state court rules published by", deleted the former second through fifth sentences, which provided for use of the citation form approved by the Supreme Court published in the NMRA and for citation to rules that were amended after the proceeding was filed; in Paragraph E, in the title, before "Code", deleted "Administrative" and added "Citation to the New Mexico Administrative", deleted the former first sentence which specified the content of the citation, deleted the former second sentence which provided for use of the year of the rule applicable to the pending case, and added the current language of the rule which restated the former first sentence; in Paragraph F, after "Except as provided in", deleted "Paragraphs A through I and the appendix of", after "provided in this rule", added "and its appendix, all pleadings and other papers filed in all courts of this state shall follow", after "form of citations", deleted "as", and after "A Uniform System of Citation", deleted "shall be used for all citation reference for all pleadings and other papers filed in all courts of this state"; and deleted the former appendix in its entirety and added the current appendix. The 2008 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. 08-8300-023, effective August 20, 2008, added the last sentence in Subsection A; deleted examples of citations in Subsections B through G; deleted the rule in Subsection B for citation of opinions not yet published in the reporter system; deleted the rule in Subsection D for using short citation forms for cases that have been cited within the same general textual discussion; deleted the rule in Subsection E for citation of compilation references; deleted the reference in Subsection H to the 18th edition 2005 of The Bluebook, A Uniform System of Citation and provided that the form of citations shall be as set forth in the current edition of the Bluebook; and added the Appendix. The 2007 amendment, approved by Supreme Court order 07-8300-11, effective May 10, 2007, amended Paragraph G to change "Subpart" to "Section". The 2005 amendment, approved by Supreme Court order 05-8300-16, effective August 15, 2005 amended Paragraph H to change the bluebook edition from the 17th to the 18th edition.