New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-531. Standing to sue third parties for injury to goods
(1) If a third party so deals with goods that have been identified to a lease contract as to cause actionable injury to a party to the lease contract (a) the lessor has a right of action against the third party, and (b) the lessee also has a right of action against the third party if the lessee:
Terms Used In New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-531
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
- goods: means all things that are movable at the time of identification to the lease contract or are fixtures (Section New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-103
- Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
- lease: means a transfer of the right to possession and use of goods for a term in return for consideration, but a sale, including a sale on approval or a sale or return, or retention or creation of a security interest is not a lease. See New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-103
- lease contract: means the total legal obligation that results from the lease agreement as affected by this article and any other applicable rules of law. See New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-103
- lessee: means a person who acquires the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-103
- lessor: means a person who transfers the right to possession and use of goods under a lease. See New Mexico Statutes 55-2A-103
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
(i) has a security interest in the goods;
(ii) has an insurable interest in the goods; or
(iii) bears the risk of loss under the lease contract or has since the injury assumed that risk as against the lessor and the goods have been converted or destroyed.
(2) If at the time of the injury the party plaintiff did not bear the risk of loss as against the other party to the lease contract and there is no arrangement between them for
disposition of the recovery, his suit or settlement, subject to his own interest, is as a fiduciary for the other party to the lease contract.
(3) Either party with the consent of the other may sue for the benefit of whom it may concern.