N.M. Admin. Code § 19.25.2.17 - DISCOVERY
No discovery shall be had on the state engineer, a hearing examiner, or ADR officer in proceedings before the hearings unit. The hearings unit favors prompt and complete disclosure and exchange of information and encourages informal arrangements among the parties for this exchange.
A. Types of discovery. Discovery shall
include all depositions, written interrogatories, requests for production of
documents, and requests for admissions. Parties shall have the right to take
the testimony of any witnesses by deposition and may seek a subpoena for the
attendance of witnesses and the production of documents or records. Parties
shall make a good-faith effort to obtain public records through the relevant
agency's open records process prior to requesting production of such documents
from other parties.
B. Filing and
service, and limitations. Discovery requests and responses, or objections
thereto, and deposition transcripts, shall not be routinely filed with the
hearings unit; provided however that the party making a discovery request shall
file a certificate of service with the hearings unit. Interrogatories, requests
for production or inspection of documents, requests for admissions and other
written discovery requests shall be served upon the party to which such
discovery is directed and all other parties requesting such service. Any given
discovery request shall be limited to no more than a total of 50
interrogatories, requests for production of documents, and requests for
admissions, including subparts, which shall be separately counted toward the
limit of 50. Parties desiring copies of the written discovery materials of
other parties may request copies from either party, subject to the requesting
party's agreement to pay the reasonable costs of reproduction.
C. Responses, objections and supplementation.
Written answers or responses to discovery requests shall be served within 30
days of service of the discovery requests, unless otherwise directed by the
hearing examiner or agreed to by the parties. Written answers or responses to
discovery requests shall be verified by the person providing the answer or
response. Objections shall identify the request objected to and shall state
with particularity the factual and legal basis for the objections, and the
response to the request shall be deferred until a determination has been made
on such objections. A party who has responded to a request for discovery shall
reasonably and promptly amend or supplement a previous response if he
subsequently obtains information which would have been responsive if the
information had been available at the time the response was served.
D. Motions to compel. Parties are expected to
engage in discovery in good faith for the purpose of fair and efficient
presentation of evidence at hearing, and they are expected to make every good
faith effort to resolve discovery disputes informally. A party may move for an
order compelling discovery only if the movant has made a good faith effort to
resolve the dispute and was unable to do so. Any motion for an order compelling
discovery shall document the good faith efforts taken by the movant to resolve
the dispute, and shall include copies or complete restatements of the discovery
requests or notices to which the movant seeks compelled responses, along with
copies of any responses or objections to the subject discovery requests or
notices, and any other pertinent materials.
E. Order for protection of parties, or
witnesses. The hearing examiner may issue such orders for the protection of
parties or witnesses from annoyances, embarrassment, or oppression as may be
just and proper under the circumstances. If the hearing examiner determines
that a party has not acted in good faith in propounding, undertaking,
responding to, or otherwise participating in the discovery process, the order
may include, but is not limited to, the exclusion of evidence, limitation of
issues, or dismissal of a party.
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