Supreme Court rejects White Peak appeal
Landowner sought to reverse lower courts’ land access decision
The New Mexico Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal by landowner David Stanley in his nearly decade-long civil case against the state and Mora County over 11 rural roads he claimed were private and which New Mexico has declared are public.
Stanley sought to prevent the public, including local residents, recreationists and hunters with state-issued game permits, according to the state, from traversing the roads, which cross his private land. Stanley’s land is a 15,000-acre checkerboard of parcels interspersed with state public lands adjacent to White Peak north of Ocate and east of Angel Fire. Mora County joined the state’s countersuit against Stanley, who sought unsuccessfully to enjoin Colfax County in the suit.
The Cooks Peak fire, the origin of which is still under investigation but suspected to be humancaused, burned rapidly across nearly 60,000 acres of land in the remote forested area in April 2022.
Witnesses testified in court the roads had been used as far back as the 1930s, according to the appeals court opinion, “for a number of purposes over the past approximately 50-80 years, including travel to obtain provisions and sell lumber or agricultural produce; attending school, mass or church services; work related to cattle ranching; gathering natural resources like wood, fruit and shed antlers; visiting relatives and friends; visiting locations of familial significance (such as birthplaces and grave sites); hunting, and recreation.”
Eighth Judicial Court Judge Sarah Backus found the roads were public and dismissed Stanley’s argument that, since some of the roads are in Colfax County, the county must “participate” in any determination that the roads are public by prescriptive easement. The Court of Appeals also dismissed Stanley’s arguments.
Stanley filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court in October, two months after the state Court of Appeals rejected his appeal and remanded to 8th Judicial District Court one task: Figure out the width of certain sections of the 100 miles of roads in question.
“We affirm the district court’s rulings that Colfax County is not an indispensable party that cannot be joined, that the eleven roads at issue in this case are public by prescriptive easement, and that the Game Commission has title in fee simple to State Road 199,” the Court of Appeals wrote in its decision.
In his appeal to the Supreme Court, Stanley rehashed his argument regarding Colfax County’s non-participation in the earlier decisions, and argued it was “undisputed that one of the eleven roads adjudicated as public was not traveled by the public,” asserting that local lore indicating
Guara Road had been used as a mail route in the early 1900s was unsubstantiated, among other claims.
And, “because the source of the state’s claim to title is legally flawed, and because there is no evidence Stanley or his predecessors were compensated, the district court’s decision regarding conveyance of [State Road] 199 to the Game Commission must be reversed,” Stanley’s legal team wrote in his appeal.
The Supreme Court denied Stanley’s appeal, and ordered the court of appeals to proceed with its case.
The state’s highest court having blocked his final legal venue in New Mexico, Stanley could still file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court. Stanley did not respond by press time to an email sent to his business, Wheaton Creek Ranch, seeking comment, nor did his attorneys return messages seeking comment.