There is hereby created a flood control authority to be known and designated as the Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority.
History: 1953 Comp., § 75-36-5, enacted by Laws 1963, ch. 311, § 5.
ANNOTATIONSCommon-law sovereign immunity was applicable to claim against authority. — Common-law sovereign immunity, as it existed in New Mexico prior to the decision in Hicks v. State, 88 N.M. 588, 544 P.2d 1153 (1975), was applicable to plaintiff's claim against the Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority for an accident which took place in June, 1974. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Sovereign immunity no defense since maintenance of flood control system proprietary. — The Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority does not act for the public benefit generally, as distinguished from acting for its immediate benefit and its private good since it operates and maintains a flood control system for the benefit of the authority and the inhabitants thereof. Thus, AMAFCA's maintenance of its flood control system was not a governmental activity, but was proprietary, and AMAFCA could not interpose the defense of sovereign immunity to avoid liability for negligent acts in connection with the activity. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Authority has two roles. — The Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority is a body corporate and politic, a quasi-municipal corporation and a political subdivision of the state, and thus it has two roles - that of political subdivision and that of a quasi-municipality. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Role of body politic, political subdivision of state, is the role of an instrumentality of state government, and as a state instrumentality, the Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority would have been immune from tort liability for a tort committed in June, 1974. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Immunity by virtue of governmental activity. — Since its duties are ordinarily wholly governmental the quasi-municipal corporation has been accorded immunity under the common law, and in such a case the immunity would exist by virtue of the governmental activity, regardless of whether the label was municipal, quasi-municipal or state instrumentality. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Immunity same as immunity of municipality. — Immunity for municipalities in New Mexico has depended on whether the function involved was governmental or proprietary; this distinction has also been applied to counties which are considered to be quasi-municipal corporations, and the immunity of a flood control authority should be considered in the same manner as the immunity of a municipality or a county. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 639, 597 P.2d 485.
Quasi-municipality label not determinant. — The fact that the Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority has the label of quasi-municipality does not determine whether it is immune from liability for its torts. Its immunity depends on whether its activity was governmental or proprietary. Nor does it necessarily follow that all of AMAFCA's activities would be proprietary if flood control activities were held to be proprietary. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Categorization of activity as governmental or proprietary. — Whether the Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority's flood control activities were governmental or proprietary was an appropriate consideration in a suit charging the authority with the negligent placing of a steel cable across a service road. Categorization of the activity or function involved is an approach followed in New Mexico decisions. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Placing obstruction in service road as proprietary activity. — Placing a steel cable across a service road to prevent public travel on the road is more than the governmental activity of regulating the use of the road through traffic control devices; it is the placing of an obstruction in the service road, a proprietary activity for which Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority was liable because a municipality is liable for the negligent failure to keep its streets in a reasonably safe condition. Gallagher v. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth., 1977-NMCA-029, 90 N.M. 309, 563 P.2d 103, cert. denied, 90 N.M. 636, 567 P.2d 485.
Indebtedness proposed by flood control authority is not one contracted by either a county, city, town or village or school district, but is one imposed by a special quasi-municipal corporation under legislative authority. Albuquerque Metro. Arroyo Flood Control Auth. v. Swinburne, 1964-NMSC-206, 74 N.M. 487, 394 P.2d 998.
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 52A C.J.S. Levees and Flood Control § 21.