Atkins & Walker Law proudly presents to New Mexico Trial Lawyers on Prison Litigation.

Every year, the New Mexico Trial Lawyers holds a seminar attended by wide-range of attorneys, judges, and law students from across New Mexico, updating the bar on new developments in tort law. This year, Sam Walker of Atkins & Walker Lawyer was invited to speak alongside Lalita Moskovitz of the ACLU of New Mexico on prison litigation and civil rights. Sam presented on recent developments in the 10th Circuit, such as cases like Tanner v. McMurray, 989 F.3d 860 (10th Cir. 2021), in which the Court denied the application of qualified immunity to private medical companies serving the corrections department were denied qualified immunity. Qualified immunity is an unfair legal principle that often shields government officials from civil liability. It was an open question whether qualified immunity applied to private medical companies serving a government entity. In 2021, the 10th Circuit ruled, no.

Sam also presented on the standards for making a claim for deliberate indifference under the 8th Amendment of the U.S. Constituion, and how the Tenth Circuit has applied this standard in recent cases such as Paugh v. Uintah Cnty., 47 F.4th 1139 (10th Cir. 2022) and Lucas v Turn Key Health, 58 F.4th 1127 (10th Cir. 2023).

Lalita explained and updated attendees on the New Mexico Civil Rights Act - a recent law that empowers individuals to sue the government for violations of the New Mexico Constitution.

Sam was grateful to present with Lalita on protecting the rights of all New Mexicans and appreciated the invite to speak at such a prestigious event. A list of the other presentations and amazing speakers is available at the following link: https://www.nmtla.org/?pg=events&evAction=showDetail&eid=320422&evSubAction=listall