Whenever the death of a person shall be caused by the wrongful act, neglect or default of another, although such death shall have been caused under such circumstances as amount in law to a felony, and the act, or neglect, or default, is such as would, if death had not ensued, have entitled the party injured to maintain an action and recover damages in respect thereof, then, and in every such case, the person who, or the corporation which, would have been liable, if death had not ensued, shall be liable to an action for damages, notwithstanding the death of the person injured.
§ 41-2-1 NMSA 1978
[Death by wrongful act or neglect; liability in damages.]
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case Amadio v. Levin (1985)
Most recently applied in 632 F. App'x 476 - Han-Noggle v. City of Albuquerque (December 2015)
Laws 1882, ch. 61, § 2; C.L. 1884, § 2309; Laws 1891, ch. 49, § 1; C.L. 1897, § 3214; Code 1915, § 1821; C.S. 1929, § 36-102; 1941 Comp., § 24-101; 1953 Comp., § 22-20-1.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: NMOneSource (New Mexico Compilation Commission). Reproduced from public-domain New Mexico statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.