Defendants in a lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to illegally remove free-roaming horses from public land on the east side of the Sandia Mountains have filed motions to dismiss the case, each citing improper venue.
Wild Horse Observers Association, a Placitas-based non-profit, filed the 25-page lawsuit in Santa Fe County District Court in November against that the New Mexico Livestock Board and one of its supervisors, the Sandoval County Commission, Sheriff Jesse James Casaus and three people affiliated with San Pedro Creek Estates.
Attorneys for Sandoval County responded to the lawsuit on behalf of the County Commission and Sheriff Casaus with a motion to dismiss on Jan. 11. The filing state’s that law requires such a lawsuit to be filed only in the district in which the Board of County Commissioners is acting.
The County said the lawsuit should be dismissed and that the plaintiff be advised that the proper venue is the 13th Judicial District in Sandoval County.
Andre Baine, one of the residents of San Pedro Creek Estates, cited the same law, as well as another one that requires lawsuits involving land to be filed in the county where the land is located.
The New Mexico Livestock Board filed an answer to WHOA’s lawsuit in which it also calls for dismissal. Most of the document addresses the allegations contained in the lawsuit line by line, denying and claiming no knowledge or information of others.
Regarding allegations against NMLB Regional Supervisor Benjamin Gonzales, however, it claims he is subject to qualified immunity.
NMLB’s filing asks the court to dismiss the lawsuit and order WHOA to pay the agency reasonable fees to defend the action.
Defendants James Carroll, also a resident of San Pedro Creek Estates, and David Gonzales, a security officer for the development, had yet to enter an appearance in the case, as of Jan. 26, according to online court records.
The lawsuit alleges the men conspired to lure at least four wild horses off public land and onto private property where they captured and transported off public land and sent to Belen and Colorado in violation of the New Mexico Wild Horse Act.
There is no Ordinance Lawsuit. Here is the lawsuit. The Wild Horse Observers Association Filed Suit in Defense of NM State’s Protected Wild Horses on Nov. 20, 2023
versus NMLB, Sandoval County Commissioners, Sandoval Sheriff Jessie James Casaus, and three citizens
https://whoanm.org/wordpress/ All defendants have an attorney who has entered an appearance.