NMSA 73-9-16. [Acquisition of property; suits; judicial notice and
AI-assisted research summary: The board may take property-related conveyances or contracts, bring and defend lawsuits, and act in court in the irrigation district’s name. Certain recorded orders trigger judicial notice of an irrigation district’s existence and make the order prima facie evidence of the recited acts.
73-9-16. [Acquisition of property; suits; judicial notice and presumption of organization; certified copies as evidence.] The said board is hereby authorized and empowered to take conveyances or contracts for all property or rights acquired by it under the provisions of this act in the name of such irrigation district to and for the purposes herein expressed, and to institute and maintain any and all actions, proceedings and suits at law or in equity, necessary or proper in order to fully carry out the provisions of this act, or to enforce, maintain, protect or preserve any or all rights, privileges and immunities created by this act or acquired in pursuance thereof. And in all courts, actions, suits or proceedings the said board may sue, appear and defend in person or by attorneys and in the name of such irrigation district. Judicial notice shall be taken in all actions, suits and proceedings in any court of this state of the organization and existence of any irrigation district in this state now or hereafter organized, from and after the filing for record in the office of the county clerk of the certified copy of the order of the board of county commissioners mentioned in Section 6 [73-9-6 NMSA 1978] of this act; and a certified copy of said order shall be prima facie evidence in all actions, suits and proceedings in any court in this state of the regularity and legal sufficiency of all acts, matters and proceedings therein recited and set forth; and any such irrigation district, in regard to which any such order has been heretofore or may hereafter be entered, and such certified copy thereof so filed for record, and which has exercised or shall exercise rights and powers of such district, and shall have had or shall have in office a board of directors exercising the duties of their office and the legality or regularity of the formation or organization whereof shall not have been questioned by proceedings in quo warranto instituted in the district court of the county in which such district or the greater portion thereof is situated within one year from the date of such filing, shall be conclusively deemed to be a legally and regularly organized, established and existing irrigation district within the meaning of this act, and its due and lawful formation and organization shall not thereafter be questioned in any action, suit or proceeding whether brought under the provisions of this act or otherwise. History: Laws 1919, ch. 41, § 14; C.S. 1929, § 73-214; 1941 Comp., § 77-2114; 1953 Comp., § 75-22-14.