Alto Eldorado Partnership v. Amrep Corp.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 district · 6 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “corporations are formed precisely for the purpose of insulating the owners thereof and such purpose ought to be respected, whether for liability or jurisdiction, unless there are countervailing reasons not to do so.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 506 F. Supp. 2d 700 - CERTAIN UNDERWRITERS AT LLOYD'S, LONDON v. Nance · 181 F. Supp. 3d 924 - Albuquerque Facility, LLC v. Danielson

2. “Agency and alter ego might require a separate analysis when used to assert liability over a foreign corporation, but “it is difficult to see a significant distinction between the two theories for jurisdictional purposes.” SGI Air Holdings II LLC v. Novartis Int’l AG, 239 F.Supp.2d 1161, 1166 (D.Colo.2003). Both theories “often depend on the same type of evidence.” Id. As we will explain, the true inquiry must be focused on minimum contacts and not substantive principles of corporate law; we address the theory of alter ego with the understanding that agency cases may be useful in our analysis. To do this, we must first decide whether alter ego is even a viable theory to establish personal jurisdiction in New Mexico, and if so, to what extent. This fundamental question went unaddressed by the parties, who focused only on the application of an alter ego theory to the facts. Alter ego, however, is primarily used to establish liability. See, e.g., Antoinette Sedillo López, Comment, The Alter Ego Doctrine: Alternative Challenges to the Corporate Form, 30 UCLA L.Rev. 129 (1982). When we are called upon to review an “alternative challenge[]” to the corporate form, “[t]he traditional alter ego analysis is often inadequate when applied ... and, as a result, rulings are often inconsistent.” Id. at 131. Assertions of jurisdiction based on an alter ego theory are one such category of “unusual challenges.” Id. at n. 12. The usual challenge using the alter ego theory seeks to pierce the cor”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 506 F. Supp. 2d 700 - CERTAIN UNDERWRITERS AT LLOYD'S, LONDON v. Nance · 801 F. Supp. 2d 1128 - Walker v. THI OF NEW MEXICO AT HOBBS CENTER

3. “Amrep is a holding company publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Amrep essentially has two ventures: cable television and real estate. The real estate branch of Amrep owns the New Mexico Amrep subsidiaries listed above. In 1973, EUI, not its parent Amrep, applied to run a water utility in New Mexico. Minutes from a special meeting of EUI’s board in 1973 stated that EUI “was formed for the purpose of providing water utility service at El Dorado at Santa Fe.” EUI was created to facilitate the real estate interests or ventures of Amrep. According to EUI’s president, who also serves as vice president for Amrep, when Amrep’s land subsidiaries no longer need EUI, Amrep will sell it. Specifically, Amrep is in the land business, not the utility business. PUC required that Amrep subsidize any of EUI’s operating shortfalls. The 1973 PUC order noted that “[a]s the revenues from the utility operation will be insufficient to maintain the utility in a ‘no-loss’ position for several years, the payments made by AMREP are the additional revenues needed to maintain the utility in a ‘no-loss’ financial position.” PUC ordered that “AMREP ... shall annually pay ... the amount required to maintain [EUI] in a ‘no-loss’ financial position until such a time as [EUI] becomes a self sustaining utility.” The final order approving this subsidization agreement found jurisdiction over the parties, but does not state who those parties were. In 1993, EUI asked PUC to end this requirement, since the”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 801 F. Supp. 2d 1128 - Walker v. THI OF NEW MEXICO AT HOBBS CENTER