State high court considers dispute between PNM, ‘The New Mexican’
Case stems from ’15 PRC suit seeking to prevent newspaper from publishing content obtained from public records request
The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in an ongoing legal battle between Public Service Company of New Mexico and The New Mexican over documents related to the utility’s plans for the San Juan Generating Station, released to the newspaper in 2015.
At issue in the case is whether rules designed to safeguard citizens’ rights to petition their government also protect PNM’s efforts to seek a court order prohibiting the newspaper’s publication of documents obtained through a records request, New Mexican attorney Charles Peifer said in an interview Thursday.
The state Public Regulation Commission initiated the litigation in 2015 by asking the court to issue an order preventing the newspaper from publishing the content of records a reporter received in response to a public records request. The commission contended the records were confidential and had been accidentally released.
PNM and two coal companies joined the lawsuit, prompting the newspaper to file counterclaims. The New Mexican argued the records — including communications between the PRC and the utility regarding the cost of shutting down the power generating station — were public because they were part of a public process and the government’s hearing officer had never officially deemed them confidential.
The newspaper accused the companies of malicious abuse of process and sought to recover damages and legal costs associated with litigating the issue.
The PRC settled with The New Mexican early in the case, agreeing to pay some of the costs associated with the litigation, Peifer said.
The contents of the records were published years ago, but the legal dispute between the newspaper and PNM and the coal companies has continued.
PNM and the other parties have argued they are protected from the newspaper’s counterclaims by the First Amendment, pointing to rules that protect citizens’ rights to influence the passage or enforcement of laws.
According to court records, a district judge granted PNM’s motion to dismiss and the state Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal in 2022, finding the paper had failed to prove the companies’ initial claims were baseless.
The New Mexican subsequently asked the state Supreme Court to review the case and overturn the Court of Appeals decision, which the paper argued misapplied a law that was designed to protect citizens’ right to petition their government — not private companies seeking to protect private interests.
“If left undisturbed, the Court of Appeals’ decision risks imposing a nearly insurmountable pleading burden on future litigants which, like The New Mexican, must defend against litigation brought to suppress public debate,” Peifer wrote in his October 2022 petition asking the state’s high court to consider the case.
“The decision also incentivizes litigants to file groundless lawsuits against media organizations knowing that they can use [a rule] itself intended by this Court to be a vehicle to protect the First Amendment, to impose significant litigation costs on the media, knowing that they will be immunized from liability for filing baseless lawsuits,” he wrote.
PNM spokesman Ray Sandoval declined to comment on the case Friday, writing in an email: “PNM appreciated an opportunity to make our arguments before the Supreme Court. We will respect the process by awaiting the Court’s further actions.”
The court has not yet issued a ruling. Peifer said it’s “heartening” the state Supreme Court agreed to consider the case.
“We do not think [PNM] should be immunized against the consequences of suing to prevent the publication of information they do want to see in print,” he said.