A. In addition to fees collected pursuant to, and subject to exceptions set forth in, Section 34-6-40 NMSA 1978 for docketing of civil cases in any judicial district that has established an alternative dispute resolution program, the district court clerk shall collect a fee of fifteen dollars ($15.00) on all new and reopened civil cases except domestic relations cases. The fee shall be deposited for credit to the district court alternative dispute resolution fund pursuant to the provisions of Section 34-6-44 NMSA 1978.

B. A judicial district may establish an alternative dispute resolution program by court rule approved by the supreme court. Parties shall pay the cost of the alternative dispute resolution program pursuant to a sliding fee scale approved by the supreme court. The sliding fee scale shall be based on ability to pay. The fee shall be paid to the district court to be credited to the fund.

History: Laws 1986, ch. 26, § 2; 1990, ch. 56, § 1; 1994, ch. 37, § 2; 2017, ch. 39, § 1.

The 2017 amendment, effective June 16, 2017, allowed district courts to recover costs from parties of alternative dispute resolution programs, and corrected a citation to the alternative dispute resolution fund; added the new subsection designation "A."; in Subsection A, after "alternative dispute resolution program", deleted "by judicial district court rule approved by the supreme court, including but not limited to arbitration, mediation and settlement facilitation programs", and after "Section", deleted "34-6-37" and added "34-6-44"; and added Subsection B.

The 1994 amendment, effective May 18, 1994, rewrote the section heading, which read: "District courts; civil actions arbitration user fee"; substituted "alternative dispute resolution" for "arbitration" in the second sentence; and, in the first sentence, substituted "alternative dispute resolution program by judicial district court rule approved by the supreme court, including but not limited to arbitration, mediation and settlement facilitation programs" for "arbitration program by judicial district court rule as approved by the supreme court for the efficient and inexpensive disposition of small claims", and deleted "user" preceding "fee" and "and children's court" following "relations".

The 1990 amendment, effective March 2, 1990, substituted the present first sentence of the section for a sentence which read "Subject to approval of the supreme court, district court clerks may collect an arbitration user fee not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00) from each party referred to arbitration pursuant to the requirements of an arbitration program established by judicial district court rule as approved by the supreme court for the efficient and inexpensive disposition of small claims".