Lawmaker ‘severely injured’ in mishap at Capitol gets $30K
A state representative who was crushed by newly installed doors at the Roundhouse four years ago has received a $30,000 settlement from the state of New Mexico.
Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, D-Albuquerque, claimed in a lawsuit she was “severely injured” in the January 2020 incident after Legislative Building Services installed a new keycard system to control access to some of the doors leading to legislators’ offices at the state Capitol.
After the installation, which required doors to be removed and reinstalled, “authorized personnel had problems with the newly installed doors,” the lawsuit states.
On Jan. 22, 2020, Roybal Caballero used her keycard to get through one of the doors.
“As [she] was attempting to walk through the doorway, the newly installed door closed abruptly and forcefully on the left side of her body, causing her to suffer injuries,” according to the lawsuit, which also alleges the building superintendent later told Roybal Caballero “the door had been installed incorrectly, causing it to snap closed unexpectedly.”
The settlement calls for two separate checks totaling $30,000. The first check, for $25,000, will be used to reimburse those who provided care or paid for it after the injury — a medical professional or insurance company, for example. Once these so-called “subrogation liens” are satisfied, a second check for $5,000 will be issued, the settlement states.
Neither Roybal Caballero nor Raúl Burciaga, director of the Legislative Council Service, immediately returned messages seeking comment.
Roybal Caballero, who represents House District 13, has served in the Legislature since 2013. She is facing a Democratic challenger, Teresa Garcia, in the June primary.