New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE
Chapter 2 - STATE TRUST LANDS PART 24 CULTURAL PROPERTIES PROTECTION
Part 15 - ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEEDINGS BEFORE THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC LANDS
Section 19.2.15.9 - CONTEST
Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 24, December 23, 2024
A. Right to contest. Subject to Subsection B of 19.2.15.9 NMAC below, any persons or entities aggrieved by an agency determination shall have the right to a contest pursuant to this Part 15. Such proceedings are a mandatory administrative remedy and must be completed before recourse to any court is available.
B. Limitation of right. Unless the commissioner in the commissioner's discretion determines otherwise, a contest shall not involve matters which would not require the presence of the commissioner as a necessary party in a district court proceeding. The right of a party to initiate a contest proceeding is not a waiver of any defense or claim by the commissioner or any other party regarding threshold matters such as jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, standing, ripeness, mootness, failure to state a claim, and the like.
C. Contest participants. In the case of a contest initiated by a show cause order, the participants shall be the commissioner and the respondent. In the case of a contest initiated by petition, the contest participants shall be the commissioner, the petitioner, and any respondents. The hearing officer may, in the hearing officer's discretion, permit third parties to intervene or to participate as amicus curiae. All pleadings shall contain a certificate indicating that all other participants have been served with a copy of the pleading by first-class mail or by such other means as the hearing officer may allow.
D. Representation. Contest participants may represent themselves, or may be represented by counsel to the same extent allowed in the district courts of New Mexico. Parties who represent themselves will be held to the same standards of conduct and pleading as if they were represented by counsel.
E. Location. All contests shall, at the sole discretion of the commissioner, be held either at the offices of the New Mexico state land office in Santa Fe, New Mexico, or at any other location deemed most expedient by the commissioner.
