The New Mexico Supreme Court has issued a ruling that paves the way for a previously dismissed class-action lawsuit against Guadalupe Credit Union to proceed. The court held unanimously that the credit union broke the law by having employees who were not attorneys file lawsuits in Magistrate Court seeking to collect money from the credit union's borrowers.
"In affirming the Court of Appeals, we clarify that corporations, such as Guadalupe, must appear before our courts through duly licensed counsel unless otherwise authorized by this Court's rules," the Supreme Court wrote in an opinion authored by Justice Michael E. Vigil.
The opinion issued Monday upholds a ruling which found the state District Court wrongly dismissed a lawsuit filed in 2019 by eight people and a class of what their lawyer said Monday could be hundreds, if not thousands, of other consumers who faced the unlawful collections efforts in violation of the state Unfair Trade Practices Act.
"This ruling offers protections to consumers who are taken advantage of by financial institutions who press collections actions without attorneys," plaintiff's lawyer Rob Treinen, who worked on the case alongside attorney Robert David Humphreys, said in a phone interview Monday.
"Attorneys are constrained by ethical and professional requirements, and the court is recognizing that for consumers to be protected courts must be fair," Treinen added.
Guadalupe Credit Union did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.
In its appeal, the credit union had maintained state law allows non-attorneys to practice in magistrate courts — which have the authority to hear civil lawsuits up to $10,000 — and that they were essentially acting as self-represented litigants in the debt-collection lawsuits, according to a statement issued by the Administrative Office of the Courts.
The Supreme Court disagreed, opining that corporations can appear in Magistrate Court through non-attorneys only in limited instances which do not include Guadalupe's debt-collection actions.
"Corporations are held to different standards than individuals," the court wrote. "As a corporation, Guadalupe cannot represent itself or appear pro se. Instead, a corporation must act through an agent, such as an employee, and that agent can only represent the corporation if they are authorized to practice law." To read more click here.