Rule text
A. Audio record of proceedings. Every civil proceeding in the metropolitan court shall be audio recorded.
B. Preservation of audio record. The audio record of proceedings shall be preserved for ninety (90) days after the entry of a final order in the proceedings. Any party desiring to preserve the tapes for a longer period of time may, within eighty (80) days after the filing of the final order, file a request to preserve the audio record containing the transcript of proceedings.
[As amended, effective May 1, 1994; July 1, 1996; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. S-1-RCR-2025-00175, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after December 31, 2025.]
Notes
ANNOTATIONS
The 2025 amendment, approved by Supreme Court Order No. S-1-RCR-2025-00175, effective December 31, 2025, removed references to tape recording and substituted those references with "audio" recording. The 1996 amendment, effective for appeals filed after July 1, 1996, deleted the former last sentence of Paragraph A, which read "The tape recording shall be made a part of the record on appeal"; in Paragraph B, in the second sentence, substituted "tapes" for "record", "within" for "prior to the expiration of" and "transcript" for "record", and deleted the former last sentence relating to requests to preserve the tapes; and deleted former Paragraphs C through E, relating to arrangements for payment of costs of tape recordings, filing the tapes with the district court, and notice of the filing.
The 1994 amendment, effective May 1, 1994, deleted "no later than three (3) days prior to trial" following "party" in the first sentence and added the present second sentence of Paragraph A, added present Paragraph B and redesignated the remaining paragraphs accordingly, and deleted "for erasure and reuse" following "clerk" in the last sentence of Paragraph D.
Rule 3-708 NMRA is invalid to the extent it conditions the creation of a record on a party's request. -- Where plaintiff filed a petition in the metropolitan court under the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act, NMSA 1978, §§ 47-8-1 to 47-8-52, requesting restitution of a single-family home, and where, after trial, the metropolitan court entered a judgment restoring the home to plaintiff and evicting defendant, and where defendant appealed the metropolitan court's judgment to the district court, which dismissed the appeal because defendant had failed to request a recording of the metropolitan court's trial in compliance with Rule 3-708(A) NMRA, the district court erred in dismissing the appeal, because at the relevant time of this appeal, NMSA 1978, § 34-8A-6, imposed a duty on the metropolitan court to create a record of its civil proceedings sufficient to permit appellate review, and Rule 3-708(A) NMRA and other similar rules, which condition the metropolitan court's act of recordation on a party's request, stand in direct conflict with the record-keeping mandate of 34-8A-6(B) NMSA 1978. Padilla v. Torres, 2024-NMSC-007.
3-709 to 3-712. Withdrawn. ANNOTATIONS
Withdrawals. -- Pursuant to a court order dated April 18, 1996, 3-709 through 3-712 NMRA, relating to appellate briefs, arguments and mandates, appellate review, appeals from district court and dismissal of appeal, were withdrawn effective July 1, 1996. For provisions of former rules, see the 1995 NMRA on NMOneSource.com.
ARTICLE 8 Special Proceedings