HERRERA V. QUALITY PONTIAC
134 N.M. 43, 73 P.3d 181 (2003)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Herrera (P), a personal representative and related individual,
challenged a decision of a trial court, which dismissed their wrongful death and personal
injury action against Quality Pontiac (D), repair shop, for failure to state a claim. The
Court of Appeals certified the matter to the court.
FACTS: Herrera (P), personal representative of Octavio Ruiz, and Jose Encinias, filed a
complaint for wrongful death and personal injury against Quality Pontiac (D) following a
traffic accident caused by a thief who stole a car from D's lot. The district court
dismissed the case with prejudice for failure to state a claim for which relief can be
granted. An owner took his car to D for repairs. At D's direction, the owner left the keys
in the car and the doors unlocked. The lot was fenced, and the gate was unlocked. Billy
Garcia entered the lot and stole the vehicle. The next day, at approximately 11:00 a.m., a
Bernalillo County deputy sheriff observed Garcia driving quickly through a school zone and
pursued him, engaging his emergency lights and sirens. Garcia drove at a speed of up to
ninety miles per hour and collided head on with Ps' car, which had pulled over onto the
shoulder after hearing the sirens. One occupant was killed and the other seriously injured.
P presented proof that the local vehicle theft rate was 1,345.5 per 100,000 residents. The
expert estimated that between forty-five and eighty percent of stolen cars had been left
unlocked and that between nineteen and forty-seven percent of stolen cars had the ignition
keys left inside. Most thefts were for joyriding and short term transportation. The expert
estimated that there is a high probability that a stolen car will be involved in traffic
accidents, relying on a study which 'found that nearly [seventeen percent] of all stolen
cars are involved in accidents in a matter of hours or days after their theft,' and another
study which found 'the accident rate for stolen cars [to be] approximately 200 times the
accident rate for cars that have not been stolen.' P appealed.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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