New Mexico Personal Injury Laws: Deadlines to Sue, Fault Rules and Damage Caps

Three years for an action for an injury to the person.

Four years for actions for injuries to property or conversion of personal property.

A malpractice claim against a health care provider must be filed within three years after the date the act of malpractice occurred (not from discovery). Minors and incapacitated persons get one year after reaching adulthood or the end of the incapacity.

Within three years after the cause of action accrues; the cause of action accrues on the date of death.

The action is brought by the personal representative of the person who died. The jury may award compensatory and exemplary damages. Proceeds are not subject to the decedent's debts and are distributed: to a surviving spouse if there are no children; half to the spouse and half to children and grandchildren if there are both; to children and grandchildren if there is no spouse; to the parents if the decedent was a childless, unmarried minor; then to brothers and sisters; otherwise as personal property of the estate.

New Mexico uses comparative fault. By statute, in cases where comparative fault applies, liability is generally several: each defendant pays only the share of damages equal to its percentage of the total fault attributed to all persons, including plaintiffs and non-parties, with joint and several liability kept for intentional wrongdoers, vicarious liability, strict product liability and certain other situations.

No general cap on damages in ordinary injury cases was found. Caps apply to medical malpractice claims under the Medical Malpractice Act and to claims against government entities under the Tort Claims Act.

Yes, aggregate caps on all damages except punitive damages and past and future medical care. Independent providers: $750,000 per occurrence, adjusted annually for inflation beginning January 1, 2023. Independent outpatient health care facilities: $1,000,000 for injuries in 2024, adjusted annually after that. Hospitals and hospital-controlled outpatient facilities: rising each year, $6,000,000 per occurrence for injuries in 2026, then adjusted for inflation. The caps include all loss of consortium claims. Most providers' personal liability is limited to $250,000, with the excess paid from the Patient's Compensation Fund. The jury is not told about the caps.

Allowed under New Mexico court decisions; the wrongful death statute expressly lets the jury award exemplary damages, and punitive damages are outside the medical malpractice caps. Judgments against government entities may not include punitive damages. No statutory dollar cap on punitive damages was found.

Under the Tort Claims Act, a written notice stating the time, place and circumstances of the loss or injury must be presented within 90 days after the occurrence: to the Risk Management Division for claims against the state, the mayor for a city, the school superintendent for a school district, the county clerk for a county, or the administrative head of another local body. Without notice (or the government's actual notice), no suit may be maintained; for wrongful death, notice may be given within six months. Liability is capped at $400,000 per person for general damages, $300,000 for medical expenses, and $200,000 per property for real property damage, with $750,000 total per occurrence for property and general damages. No punitive damages or pre-judgment interest.

No owner may allow, and no person may drive, an uninsured vehicle on New Mexico streets or highways. Required evidence of financial responsibility is at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury and $10,000 for property damage (or a $60,000 bond or cash deposit).

The driver in a crash causing bodily injury or death, or apparent property damage of $500 or more, must immediately, by the quickest means available, notify the police department if the crash is inside a city or town, or otherwise the county sheriff or the nearest New Mexico State Police office. If the driver cannot, a capable passenger must give the notice. For a driverless autonomous vehicle, the owner (or someone acting for the owner) must give the notice.

The driver in a crash causing bodily injury or death, or total apparent property damage of $500 or more, must send a written report of the crash to the New Mexico Department of Transportation within five days. The department may require supplemental reports and reports from witnesses. Officers who investigate such crashes also send their reports to the Department of Transportation within 24 hours after finishing the investigation.

A driver in a crash causing injury, death or damage to an attended vehicle must stop at or as close to the scene as possible and stay until they have given their name, address and vehicle registration number, shown their license if asked, and given reasonable help to anyone injured (including arranging transport for treatment). Failing to do so when the crash causes great bodily harm or death is a fourth-degree felony, or a third-degree felony if done knowingly; when there is no great bodily harm or death, it is a misdemeanor. The license is revoked on conviction for an injury or death crash. Leaving a crash that damaged only an attended vehicle is a misdemeanor. For an unattended vehicle, the driver must find the owner or leave a written note.

New Mexico does not divide visitors into invitees and licensees for slip-and-fall purposes: an owner or occupant owes a visitor the duty to use ordinary care to keep the premises safe for the visitor's use, and this duty applies whether or not a dangerous condition is obvious. The owner or occupant is treated as knowing of any condition that a reasonable inspection would have revealed, or that it or its employees caused. The injured visitor must show the owner failed to use ordinary care and that this caused the injury, with fault compared under New Mexico's comparative-fault rules.

Under the New Mexico Tort Claims Act, governmental immunity is waived for bodily injury or death caused by the negligence of public employees acting within the scope of their duties in the construction and later maintenance of any bridge, highway, street, alley, sidewalk or parking area. The waiver does not cover damages caused by a defect in plan or design, a failure to build or rebuild, or certain approved deviations from standard design practices. Claims are subject to the Act's 90-day notice requirement and damage caps. The statute read does not address liability of the owner of property next to a public sidewalk.

Anyone claiming damages from a city, county, school district or other local public body under the Tort Claims Act must present a written notice stating the time, place and circumstances of the injury within 90 days after the occurrence: to the mayor for a municipality, the superintendent for a school district, the county clerk for a county, or the administrative head of any other local public body (claims against the state go to the Risk Management Division). No suit may be maintained unless notice was given or the government had actual notice; time when the injured person was incapacitated (up to 90 days) is not counted, and wrongful-death notice may be given within six months. Liability is capped at $400,000 per person for general damages, $300,000 for medical expenses and $200,000 per property for real property damage, with $750,000 total per occurrence for property and general damages, and no punitive damages or pre-judgment interest. The same law covers state and local public bodies.

An owner, lessee or person in control of land who lets people use it without charge for hunting, fishing, trapping, camping, hiking, sightseeing, flying aircraft, cave exploring or any other recreational use does not promise the land is safe, does not take on a duty to keep it safe, is not responsible for injuries to or caused by those users, and owes them no greater duty than if they were trespassers. Payments to the landowner by the state, federal or other government agencies do not count as a charge. The protection does not limit liability that otherwise exists when permission is given in exchange for consideration.

Only riders under 18: no person under 18 may operate a motorcycle, and no one may carry a passenger under 18, unless that person wears a securely fastened safety helmet meeting state standards (autocycles are exempt). The statute says that failing to wear a helmet as required does not constitute contributory negligence. All operators without an approved windshield must wear eye protection.

New Mexico's laned-roadway statute requires that a vehicle be driven as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane and not be moved from that lane until the driver has first made sure the movement can be made safely. The motorcycle-riding section read (§ 66-7-355) does not mention lane splitting, and the statutes read do not name it.

Where traffic-control signals are not in place or not working, a driver must yield, slowing or stopping if needed, to a pedestrian who is in a crosswalk, and may not pass a vehicle stopped at a crosswalk for a pedestrian; pedestrians may not suddenly step into the path of a vehicle too close to yield. A pedestrian crossing outside a marked crosswalk or an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection must yield to all vehicles, and between adjacent intersections with working signals pedestrians may cross only in a marked crosswalk. Violations are penalty assessment misdemeanors.

A person riding a bicycle on a roadway has all the rights and duties of a vehicle driver, except for the bicycle equipment and operation rules and the rule for bicycles at stop-sign intersections (drivers other than bicyclists must stop before the crosswalk or stop line at a stop sign). Cyclists must ride as near the right side of the roadway as practicable, may not ride more than two abreast except on bike paths, and may not ride in a way that creates a public safety hazard. Drivers passing any vehicle must pass at a safe distance; the sections read set no specific number of feet for passing a bicycle.

While a rideshare (TNC) driver is logged on to the app but not engaged in a prearranged ride, primary auto liability coverage of at least $50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for death and bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage is required, plus uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to the extent required by § 66-5-301. While engaged in a prearranged ride, at least $1,000,000 in primary liability coverage for death, bodily injury and property damage is required, plus uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage to the extent required. Coverage may come from the driver or the company, and the company's insurance must provide primary coverage if the driver's lapses.

Under New Mexico's Motor Carrier Safety Act, the state adopts rules for motor carrier safety, including hours of service, that may not be inconsistent with or more stringent than applicable federal safety standards. For financial responsibility, the department must adopt the same minimum liability insurance requirements that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires of interstate carriers for property and household-goods vehicles and larger passenger vehicles. Federal rules separately require for-hire interstate carriers of ordinary (nonhazardous) property in vehicles of 10,001 pounds or more to carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage (49 CFR 387.9).

Under New Mexico's Workers' Compensation Act, which covers all employers licensed under the Construction Industries Licensing Act regardless of their number of employees, workers' compensation is the exclusive remedy against a complying employer and its insurer. The Act expressly does not affect a worker's claim against anyone other than the employer, a co-employee (including supervisors) or the employer's insurer, so suits against third parties such as other contractors or equipment makers remain available, subject to the employer's subrogation right. No New Mexico scaffold-law statute was identified for this entry.