Valencia County venue
The lawsuit filed by Socorro Electric Cooperative against its member-owners will remain in Valencia County, though some hearings may be held in Socorro County as a matter of convenience.
The ruling is a small victory for the co-op, which argued the 13th Judicial Court District constituted proper venue since some co-op members reside in Valencia County. Several answers to the lawsuit asked for a change of venue to the Seventh Judicial Court District in Socorro since the vast majority of member-owners of the public, non-profit corporation live in Socorro County.
District Court Judge Albert J. Mitchell Jr., who was appointed to the case by the New Mexico Supreme Court Justice, issued the decision regarding venue on Jan. 20. The decision says that in New Mexico “choice of venue statutes are very broad, and are interpreted to give plaintiff maximum flexibility in choosing a venue.” It acknowledges that Socorro Electric conducts business in Valencia County and the judgment it seeks would apply to customers living there.
But the decision doesn’t rule out holding some hearings in the case in Socorro:
“While venue remains in Valencia County, the Court may, as a matter of convenience, hold some hearings in Socorro County to facilitate members of the co-op who wish to observe.”
In fact, a hearing on partial merits has already been set for May 18 at the Socorro County Courthouse.
The next scheduled hearing, however, is set for Feb. 25 in Los Lunas. That hearing will address all pending motions and briefs.
The rural electric utility filed the lawsuit against all of its approximately 10,000 member-owners in Los Lunas last June. The complaint seeks declaratory judgment and injunctive relief from three bylaws adopted by member-owners at the annual meeting last April. All three bylaws call for increased transparency with regard to how the co-op goes about its business.
The bylaws in question:
• Call for the co-op’s board of trustees to follow the Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act.
• Allow members access to co-op books, records and audits, with the exception of records protected by the Privacy Act.
• Allow members and the press to attend board meetings and that a portion of the meeting is set aside for public comment. In addition, announcements of meetings are to be made in billing statements and advertised in local newspapers.
Though the co-op later filed a motion to dismiss the case, by then several answers to the complaint had been filed by defendants. One such response was a counterclaim against former and current co-op officials that requests class action certification.
Mitchell said during a status hearing last month that he wanted to address the merits of the case before considering the class action request.
Contact T.S. Last