Law Office of Matthew Vance, P.C., Personal Injury Law Blog

In a recent opinion the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico denied an insurance company’s motion to bifurcate claims and stay discovery. Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 42(b), federal courts have the authority to take actions including ordering separate trials over multiple claims. The courts enjoy broad discretion with respect to…

An accident in New Mexico recently resulted in litigation concerning coverage under an automobile insurance policy. The facts, as alleged by the parties, are simple and tragic. Allegedly a woman went to her neighbor’s house to respond to an alarm that had gone off at the house. Sandoval County Sheriff’s Deputies went to the neighbor’s…

A recent personal injury case discusses how to determine the citizenship of limited liability companies (sometimes referred to as LLCs) when they are parties to litigation in New Mexico federal court. After a car accident, plaintiffs who were allegedly residents of New Mexico, filed a personal injury case in state court. The plaintiffs brought the…

By bringing a motion in limine a party to litigation can request, outside of the presence of the jury, that certain evidence be included or excluded at trial. In a recent personal injury case, the plaintiffs won a motion in limine filed with the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico. In…

As part of a recent New Mexico personal injury case, insured property owners sought from their insurance company a defense under a landlord protection policy. The property owners’ need for a defense arose after an alleged carbon monoxide leak in a property that they had rented out to a husband and wife seriously injured the…

In a recent ruling by the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico, the court denied a tire maker’s summary judgment motion. The tire maker had challenged via its summary judgment motion the ability of the plaintiff to collect damages for lost earnings or lost earning capacities. The tire maker’s position was…

The pre-trial discovery process can enable parties to lawsuits in New Mexico to obtain information they would not otherwise be able to access. A ruling by a magistrate judge for the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico shows that, while discovery in personal injury cases can be broad, federal law also sets…

Recently the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, which hears appeals from jurisdictions including the District of New Mexico, upheld a ruling dismissing a personal injury suit based on a contractual one-year suit limitation provision. The underlying personal injury suit was filed more than one year but less than two years after a…

Recently, the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico handed down a ruling denying an insurance company’s motion to intervene. The insurance company allegedly had paid the plaintiff workers’ compensation benefits under California law, and asserted that it should be allowed to intervene to assert a subrogation right to recover sums it…

Sometimes plaintiffs in New Mexico civil cases win their cases after proceeding to trial. A recent ruling shows that a win can also be had by default when the defendant is non-responsive to service of process. The plaintiffs in the case were migrant workers, who filed a complaint with the United States District Court for…