The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the metropolitan court is required to create a record of all civil proceedings for which the court serves as a court of record under the Rules of Civil Procedure, regardless of whether or not a party requests a recording.

In a Feb. 5 opinion, authored by Chief Justice C. Shannon Bacon, the high court concluded that the state Legislature intends for the metropolitan court to create a record of its civil proceedings, determining some its rules were invalid “to the extent that the rules condition the creation of that record on a party’s request.”