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Marrujo v. New Mexico State Highway Transportation Department11/3/1994
FROST, Justice.
This case addresses the constitutionality of the New Mexico Notice of Claims Statute, NMSA 1978, Section 41-4-16 (Repl. Pamp. 1989), which requires those asserting a wrongful death claim against state or local public bodies to provide notice of the claim within six months of the injury .
The trial court upheld the constitutionality of the Notice of Claims Statute and dismissed the Plaintiffs' claim. We affirm.
I. FACTS
On November 9, 1988, a vehicle occupied by Glen Marrujo, Sr. (Marrujo) collided with another vehicle on a curved section of State Road 94 near Mora, New Mexico. Marrujo moved the car partly off the road and began to repair the left rear wheel. A third vehicle rounded the curve and struck Marrujo who died the next day.
Within a few days of the accident the New Mexico State Highway and Transportation Department (Department) received two Uniform Accident Reports as well as several supplemental reports prepared by the State Police. Two years later on November 8, 1990--the final day of the statute of limitations for claims under the Tort Claims Act, NMSA 1978, Section 41-4-15 (Repl. Pamp. 1989)--the family of Marrujo (Family) filed a wrongful death suit against the Department. The Family alleged that the Department negligently maintained the stretch of road where Marrujo was killed. Service was made on the Department on November 19, 1990. This was the first notice to the State that a claim was being made against the Department as a result of the accident.
The Department moved to dismiss, alleging that it had not received proper notice of the claim within six months after the accident as required by the New Mexico Notice of Claims Statute, Section 41-4-16(C). In reply, the Family alleged (among other concerns) that the Notice of Claims Statute violates the equal protection and due process provisions of the United States Constitution and Article II, Section 18 of the New Mexico Constitution. The trial court granted summary judgment to the Department because the Family had not satisfied the requirements of the Notice of Claims Statute.
The parties ask this Court to address four issues: (1) whether the constitutionality of the Notice of Claims Statute should be evaluated under a heightened scrutiny or rational basis standard of review; (2) whether this statute is unconstitutional on due process and equal protection grounds; (3) whether the Uniform Accident Reports filed with the Department constituted actual notice of the Family's wrongful death claim; and (4) whether further discovery by the Family would expose issues of material fact which would render summary judgment premature.
An amicus brief was filed in this Court by the New Mexico Municipal League and the New Mexico Self Insurers Fund. Upon review of the certification order by the Court of Appeals, the briefs, and the record, we affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment.
II. STATUTE IN QUESTION
The Family challenges the constitutionality of Section 41-4-16(C) of the Tort Claims Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 41-4-1 to -29 (Repl. Pamp. 1989 & Cum. Supp. 1994), which requires that a notice of claim against the state for wrongful death be filed "within six months after the date of the occurrence of the injury which resulted in the death." They contrast this statute with the Wrongful Death Act which requires that claims against a private party who causes the wrongful death of another "be brought within three years after the cause of action accrues" where "the cause of act
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