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Wagner v. AGW Consultants5/24/2005
ndamental rights, or sensitive but not suspect classifications, intermediate scrutiny is warranted and we require the State to demonstrate that the law is substantially related to an important government purpose. Mieras, 1996-NMCA-095, 26. If a law draws suspect classifications or impacts fundamental rights, we apply strict scrutiny and require the State to demonstrate that the provision at issue is closely tailored to a compelling government purpose. See id. 25.
{13} Worker and amicus New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association (NMTLA) urge us to review the attorney fee limitation under intermediate or strict scrutiny, arguing that the fee limitation impacts important or fundamental rights. They contend that certain claimants cannot obtain adequate representation because the fee limitation discourages lawyers from taking their cases, and that this lack of adequate representation threatens the meaningful exercise of two separate rights: (1) meaningful access to the courts as implied in the due process clause of the state constitution, see N.M. Const. art. II, § 18; Richardson, 107 N.M. at 696, 763 P.2d at 1161; and (2) the explicit constitutional right to an appeal in New Mexico. N.M. Const. art. VI., § 2. To warrant intermediate or strict scrutiny, Worker must first persuade us that at least one of these rights is "important" or "fundamental," and secondly that such a right is sufficiently impacted to warrant more than minimal scrutiny.
Worker Fails to Demonstrate the Impact on Important Constitutional Rights Is Sufficient to Trigger Intermediate Scrutiny
{14} New Mexico appellate courts have previously recognized that the right to access the courts and the right to an appeal are important, although not fundamental, rights for purposes of constitutional analysis. See Trujillo III, 1998-NMSC-031, 18-19; Herndon v. Albuquerque Pub. Schools, 92 N.M. 287, 288, 587 P.2d 434, 435 (1978); Mieras, 1996-NMCA-095, 48, 51 (Hartz, J., specially concurring). Because the right to access the courts and the right to an appeal are synonymous in the context of the workers' compensation system, as both are implicated when a litigant seeks to appeal an administrative decision to the judicial branch, we consider them collectively. See Herndon, 92 N.M. at 288, 587 P.2d at 435; Trujillo III, 1998-NMSC-031, 21; Mieras, 1996-NMCA-095, 48, 51 (Hartz, J., specially concurring). Any legislation shown to truly impact these appellate rights should be subjected to more than rational basis review. See, e.g., Carson v. Maurer, 424 A.2d 825, 830-32 (N.H. 1980) (applying intermediate scrutiny to invalidate a statute that limited medical malpractice recovery, after holding the right to recover for personal injuries was an important right under the state constitution).
{15} Worker argues that the fee cap impacts workers' appellate rights because it discourages lawyers from taking complex or time-consuming cases, depriving those claimants of meaningfully exercising their appellate rights. Meaningful access to our appellate courts depends in part on an individual's ability to obtain adequate representation. See Herndon, 92 N.M. at 288, 587 P.2d at 435; Mieras, 1996-NMCA-095, 48 (Hartz, J., specially concurring) ("A statute that deprives someone of the ability to obtain adequate representation in litigation could, in a very real sense, deprive the person of a right of access to the courts."); Corn, 119 N.M. at 210, 889 P.2d at 245 (Apodaca, J., concurring). Whether representation is "adequate," however, depends on the circumstances, including the nature of proceedings and the ability of the other side to secure representation. See United States Dep't of Labor v. Triplett, 494 U.S. 715, 733-34 (1990)
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