NM Court of Appeals Schedules December 17, 10:00 AM Hearing
December 17, 2015 - NM Court of Appeals Schedules December 17, 10:00 AM Hearing
The New Mexico Court of Appeals has scheduled a hearing at the Pamela B. Minzner Law Center on Wednesday, December 17, 2015. The oral argument is open to the public and begins at 10:00 A.M.
A three-judge panel will preside: Judge Michael E. Vigil, Judge Michael D. Bustamante (’74), and Judge M. Monica Zamora (’87)
Following are the details of the three related cases scheduled for oral argument:
No. 33,787
STATE OF NEW MEXICO, ex rel, FRANK FOY, SUZANNE FOY and JOHN CASEY, Appellants, represented by Victor R. Marshall
vs.
NEW MEXICO STATE INVESTMENT COUNCIL, DANIEL WEINSTEIN; VICKY L. SCHIFF; WILLIAM HOWELL; and MARVIN ROSEN, Appellees, represented by Hector H. Balderas, Sean M. Cunniff, Bruce A. Brown, Kenneth W. Ritt, Eric M. Sommer, Emily A. Franke, Rodney L. Schlagel, Owen C. Pell, Joshua D. Weedman
and
NEW MEXICO STATE INVESTMENT COUNCIL, as Trustee, Administrator, and Custodian of the LAND GRANT PERMANENT FUND and the SEVERANCE TAX PERMANENT FUND, Plaintiff-Intervenor-Appellant
and
NEW MEXICO FOUNDATION FOR OPEN GOVERNMENT and NEW MEXICO PRESS ASSOCIATION, Amici Curiae, represented by Daniel Yohalem
No. 34,042
ELLIOT BROIDY, Defendant-Appellee, represented by Mel E. Yost and Douglas Baker
and
GARY BLAND, et al., Defendants
and
NEW MEXICO STATE INVESTMENT COUNCIL, as Trustee, Administrator, and Custodian of the LAND GRANT PERMANENT FUND and the SEVERANCE TAX PERMANENT FUND, Plaintiff-Appellee, represented by Hector H. Balderas, Sean M. Cunniff, Bruce A. Brown, Kenneth W. Ritt
No. 34,077
STATE OF NEW MEXICO ex rel,. FRANK FOY, SUZANNE FOY, and JOHN CASEY, Plaintiffs- Intervenors-Appellants, represented by Victor R. Marshall
vs.
SAUL MEYER; RENAISSANCE PRIVATE EQUITY PARTNERS, LP d/b/a ALDUS EQUITY PARTNERS, LP, Defendants-Appellees, represented by K. Stephen Royce
and
GARY BLAND, et al., Defendants
These appeals are an outgrowth of two cases filed by the qui tam plaintiff Frank Foy under New Mexico’s Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (FATA): State ex rel Foy v. Vanderbilt and State ex rel Foy v. Austin Capital. The Vanderbilt case is the first ever filed in state court under FATA. The qui tam plaintiff Frank Foy is the former chief investment officer at New Mexico’s Educational Retirement Board (ERB) and the Vanderbilt (and later Austin Capital) complaint alleged a pay-to-play conspiracy at the State Investment Council and the ERB. Parts of FATA were held unconstitutionally retroactive in the Austin case; the Court of Appeals affirmed in 2013; and the New Mexico Supreme Court granted certiorari and heard oral argument on this issue in November 2013. The Supreme Court has not yet issued a decision. This interlocutory appeal will not affect the claims in Vanderbilt and Austin, but both are currently stayed pending the Supreme Court’s decision.
In 2011 Attorney General Gary King filed the present case (against Gary Bland, Guy Riordan, Saul Meyer, Renaissance Private Equity Partners, LP d/b/a Aldus Equity Partners, LP, Marc Correra, Anthony Correra, Alfred Jackson, Daniel Weinstein, Vicky L. Schiff, Julio Ramirez, Barrett Wissman, William Howell, Marvin Rosen, Daniel Hevesi, Elliott Broidy, Milton Robert Carr, and Henry Morris – the Bland case) on behalf of the State Investment Council alleging breach of fiduciary duty and conspiracy. Of the seventeen named defendants, fifteen are named defendants in the Austin case. Defendants Bland, Marc Correra, and Anthony Correra are also named defendants in Vanderbilt. Under FATA, qui tam are given the same rights in an alternate action, such as this case filed by AG Gary King; the qui tam plaintiffs intervened as additional plaintiffs in the state’s action. The district court did not stay the case (in contrast with Austin and Vanderbilt) and did not allow discovery in the Bland case. Relying on information voluntarily provided by the defendants, the Attorney General negotiated a series of settlements that released and dismissed the FATA claims against the same defendants in the Austin case, a case that was stayed pending a decision from the New Mexico Supreme Court. The settlements were approved by the District Court in Bland.
In matter no. 33,787 review is requested of the District Court’s actions in Bland approving settlement agreements, denial of discovery, the actions of the State Investment Council in closed meetings, and denial of qui tam standing to raise conflicts of interest of Attorney General Gary King and his staff.
No. 33,787
- Appellants’ Brief in Chief
- Appellees’ (Daniel Weinstein and Vicky Schiff) Answer Brief
- Appellee’s (William Howell) Answer Brief
- Appellee’s (Marvin Rosen) Answer Brief
- Appellee’s (New Mexico State Investment Council) Answer Brief
- Appellants’ Reply Brief
- Brief of Amici Curiae New Mexico Foundation for Open Government and New Mexico Press Association In Support of Plaintiffs-Interventors-Appellants
No. 34,042
- Appellants’ (Qui Tam Plaintiff-Intervenors) Brief in Chief
- Appellee’s (New Mexico State Investment Council) Answer Brief
- Appellants’ (Qui Tam Plaintiffs-Intervenors) Reply Brief
No. 34,077
- Appellants’ (Qui Tam Plaintiff-Intervenors) Brief in Chief
- Appellee’s (New Mexico State Investment Council) Answer Brief
- Appellants’ (Qui Tam Plaintiffs-Intervenors) Reply Brief
For more information, contact Nora Gonzales at 505-841-4618.
