Rule 1-009.Pleading special matters

Last amended December 31, 2025 · Last verified June 26, 2026

In one sentenceRule 1-009 sets special pleading requirements for matters like fraud, conditions precedent, special damages, and consumer-debt claims, and relaxes pleading for capacity and official acts.

Full Text of Rule 1-009

Text sizeJump to: (A) (B) (C) (D) (E) (F) (G) (H) (I) (J)

A. Capacity. It is not necessary to aver the capacity of a party to sue or be sued or the authority of a party to sue or be sued in a representative capacity or the legal existence of an organized association of persons that is made a party, except to the extent required to show the jurisdiction of the court. When a party desires to raise an issue about the legal existence of any party or the capacity of any party to sue or be sued or the authority of a party to sue or be sued in a representative capacity, that party shall do so by specific negative averment, which shall include the supporting particulars as are peculiarly within the pleader's knowledge.

B. Fraud, mistake, and condition of the mind. In all averments of fraud or mistake, the circumstances constituting fraud or mistake shall be stated with particularity. Malice, intent, knowledge, and other condition of mind of a person may be averred generally.

C. Conditions precedent. In pleading the performance or occurrence of conditions precedent, it is sufficient to aver generally that all conditions precedent have been performed or have occurred. A denial of performance or occurrence shall be made specifically and with particularity.

D. Official document or act. In pleading an official document or official act it is sufficient to aver that the document was issued or the act done in compliance with law.

E. Judgment. In pleading a judgment or decision of a domestic or foreign court, judicial or quasi-judicial tribunal, or of a board or officer, it is sufficient to aver the judgment or decision without setting forth matter showing jurisdiction to render it.

F. Time and place. For the purpose of testing the sufficiency of a pleading, averments of time and place are material and shall be considered like all other averments of material matter.

G. Special damage. When items of special damage are claimed, they shall be specifically stated.

H. Statutes. It shall not be necessary in any pleading to set forth any statute, public or private or any special matter of these, but it shall be sufficient for the party to allege that the act was done by authority of the statute, or contrary to the provisions of the statute, naming the subject matter of the statute, or referring to it in some general term with convenient certainty.

I. Copy to be served. When any instrument of writing on which the action or defense is founded is referred to in the pleadings, the original or a copy of the instrument shall be served with the pleading, if within the power or control of the party wishing to use the same. A copy of the instrument of writing need not be filed with the district court.

J. Consumer debt claims.

(1) The pleading of a party, acting in the ordinary course of business, whose cause of action is to collect a debt arising out of a transaction in which the money, property, insurance, or services which are the subject of the original transaction are primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, other than medical debt or loans secured by real property, shall comply with Rule 1-009(J)(1), Rule 1-017(E), and Form 4-226 NMRA.

(2) Medical debt claims. The pleading of a party whose cause of action is to collect a medical debt, as defined in NMSA 1978, Section 57-32-2(I), shall comply with Rule 1-009(J)(3), Rule 1-017(E), Form 4-226A, and shall include a copy of the current Attestation of Indigency form promulgated by the New Mexico Superintendent of Insurance.

(3) Copy to be served and filed. When any instrument of writing on which a consumer debt claim is founded is referred to or relied on in the pleadings, the original or a copy of the instrument shall be served with the pleading and filed with the court unless otherwise excused by the court on a showing of good cause.

(4) An answer responding to a claim for medical debt that complies with Form 4-301A NMRA meets the requirement of Rule 1-009(C).

End

Rule History

[As amended, effective January 1, 1987; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. 16-8300-031, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after July 1, 2017; as amended by Supreme Court Order No. S-1-RCR-2025-00174, effective for all cases pending or filed on or after December 31, 2025.]

Committee Commentary

Paragraph J of this rule was added in 2016 to provide additional protections to consumers in consumer debt collection cases. Rules 1-017(E), 1-055(B), and 1-060(B)(6) NMRA were also amended, and Form 4-226 NMRA created, for the same purpose. After consulting with the New Mexico Attorney General’s Office Consumer Protection Division and creditor and debtor rights representatives, and researching concerns identified by the Federal Trade Commission in its report issued in July of 2010, “Repairing a Broken System: Protecting Consumers in Debt Collection Litigation and Arbitration,” the Committee concluded, and the Court agreed, that amendments to the rules are necessary to alleviate systemic problems and abuses that currently exist in the litigation of consumer debt cases. These include pleadings and judgments based on insufficient or unreliable evidence, “robo-signing” of affidavits by those with no personal knowledge of the debt at issue, creditors suing and obtaining judgments on time-barred debts, and an alarmingly high percentage of default judgments (often caused in part by a lack of sufficient detail in the complaint for a self-represented defendant to determine the nature of the claim and its validity).

Plain-English Summary

Most matters follow the general pleading rules, but some need special handling, and this rule spells them out. A party need not allege capacity or authority to sue except as needed to show jurisdiction, and may aver judgments, official documents, and the performance of conditions precedent generally—though a denial that conditions precedent were performed must be made specifically and with particularity. Fraud and mistake, by contrast, must be pleaded with particularity, while malice, intent, and knowledge may be averred generally.

The rule also requires that items of special damage be stated specifically, that statutes be invoked by general reference rather than full text, and that a written instrument the claim or defense rests on be served with the pleading when it is within the party’s control. A detailed subsection governs consumer-debt claims: debt collectors acting in the ordinary course must comply with Rule 1-009(J), Rule 1-017(E), and Form 4-226, with added requirements and an indigency attestation for medical-debt claims. As the committee commentary explains, these consumer-debt provisions were added in 2016 to curb abuses such as filings on insufficient evidence, robo-signed affidavits, and suits on time-barred debt.

Frequently Asked Questions

What must be pleaded with particularity?

The circumstances constituting fraud or mistake, and items of special damage. Malice, intent, knowledge, and other conditions of mind may be averred generally.

Do I have to attach the document my claim is based on?

When a written instrument is the basis of the claim or defense and is within your control, the original or a copy must be served with the pleading. For consumer-debt claims it must also be filed with the court unless the court excuses it.

What special rules apply to consumer-debt claims?

A collector acting in the ordinary course must comply with Rule 1-009(J), Rule 1-017(E), and Form 4-226, with additional requirements—including an indigency attestation form—for medical-debt claims.

Source & verification. Rule text and Committee commentary reproduced verbatim from the New Mexico Rules of Civil Procedure for the District Courts (Rule 1-009 NMRA), published by the New Mexico Compilation Commission (NMOneSource). Promulgated by the Supreme Court of New Mexico. The plain-English summary is original and draws on the official annotations. Last verified June 26, 2026. · Official source

Also known as: pleading special matterspleading fraudconditions precedentspecial damagesconsumer debt pleading