2023 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 44 - Miscellaneous Civil Law Matters
Article 9 - Fraud Against Taxpayers Act
Section 44-9-10 - State or political subdivision not liable.
The state or political subdivision shall not be liable for expenses or fees that a qui tam plaintiff may incur in investigating or bringing an action pursuant to the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act.
History: Laws 2007, ch. 40, § 10; 2015, ch. 128, § 9.
ANNOTATIONSThe 2015 amendment, effective June 19, 2015, provided that political subdivisions are not liable for expenses or fees that a qui tam plaintiff may incur in bringing an action pursuant to the Fraud Against Taxpayers Act; in the catchline, added "or political subdivision"; and at the beginning of the sentence, after "The state", added "or political subdivision".
The district court did not err in accepting the terms of the settlement agreement in the qui tam action. — In a qui tam action, where the district court entered a judgment that dismissed the plaintiffs' Fraud Against Taxpayers Act (FATA) claims in their entirety and also approved a settlement negotiated by the attorney general's office (AGO), and where the plaintiffs filed a motion asserting that the attorney fee provision of the settlement agreement was precluded by FATA, the district court did not err in denying plaintiffs' motion, because New Mexico has a strong public policy of encouraging settlements, the provisions of FATA do not prohibit a lump sum settlement, and the lump sum settlement agreed upon in this case was an acceptable way to resolve the qui tam action. State ex rel. Foy v. Vanderbilt Capital Advisors, 2022-NMCA-026, cert. denied.