A. Unless otherwise specifically provided by law, if property is sought to be appropriated for public use by a person authorized to acquire property pursuant to the laws of New Mexico, and the condemnor and the condemnee cannot agree to the transfer of the property or interest in question the condemnor may file a petition with the court of the county where the property or any part thereof lies; provided however, the petition shall not include any property which is not contiguous to property to be condemned in the county of the court's jurisdiction.

B. The petition prescribed in Subsection A of this section shall include but not be limited to the following:

(1) a designation as plaintiff each person on whose behalf the property is sought to be taken;

(2) a statement by the petitioner of its authority to bring the action;

(3) a general description of the public purpose for which the property is being condemned;

(4) a statement that the action is brought pursuant to and in compliance with the provisions of the Eminent Domain Code;

(5) an accurate surveyed description of the property to be condemned describing the property by metes and bounds or center line description tied at regular intervals to statutory corners or other monumented points incorporated in the petition with or without reference to maps or plats attached to the petition; the property of each condemnee to be condemned shall be described separately, and each tract under separate ownership shall be consecutively numbered for ease in identification; provided that interests of several owners in the same property may be described and numbered together;

(6) the interest to be taken;

(7) an allegation that the petitioner has been unable to agree with one or more of the defendants having an interest in a particular tract as to just compensation;

(8) a statement of the amount offered as compensation for each tract affected;

(9) a map, plat or plan included or attached to the petition showing the improvement to be constructed and indicating the property of the condemnee to be condemned; and

(10) unless an appraisal was prepared pursuant to Section 42A-1-5 NMSA 1978, a request for the appointment of three commissioners to assess the damages which the condemnees may severally sustain in consequence of the proposed taking.

C. The petition may also include a prayer requesting that the court grant the condemnor the right of immediate possession as provided in Section 42A-1-22 NMSA 1978, and that the court hold a hearing concerning this matter within thirty days from the date of the filing of the petition.

D. The petition shall name as defendants, and shall list their addresses, if known, all the parties who own or occupy the property or have any interest therein as may be ascertained by a search of the county records, and if any such parties are known to the petitioner to be minors or persons of unsound mind or suffering under any other legal disability, when no legal representative, custodian or guardian appears in their behalf, the court shall on motion appoint a guardian ad litem to protect the interest of those under any legal disability. The following additional parties shall be named as defendants:

(1) if the record owner of the property sought to be condemned is deceased and there has been no recorded legal disposition of the property, the deceased and his known heirs shall be named as defendants, and, if the heirs are unknown to the petitioner, they shall be named and designated as defendants under the style of "the unknown heirs of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ., deceased";

(2) if the estate of any such deceased person is in the process of being administered in any court of the state, the personal representative of such deceased person shall also be named as a defendant;

(3) if the property sought to be condemned is held in trust and the petitioner has knowledge of the trust, the trustee shall be named; and

(4) where the name of the party holding title or any interest therein cannot be determined, such parties shall be designated as "unknown owners or claimants of the property involved."

History: 1978 Comp., § 42A-1-17, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 125, § 13.

Ownership interest required for standing. — Only persons with an ownership interest capable of being taken or damaged would appear to have standing to raise issues about the basic features of such an action, such as the authority of the condemnor to proceed, the identity of the fact finder, and the description of the property or of its value. City of Sunland Park v. Santa Teresa Servs. Co., 2003-NMCA-106, 134 N.M. 243, 75 P.3d 843, cert. denied, 134 N.M. 179, 74 P.3d 1071.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 27 Am. Jur. 2d Eminent Domain §§ 511 et seq., 888.

29A C.J.S. Eminent Domain §§ 229 to 231, 288.