Judge rules against New Mexico cockfighters

By TIM KORTE

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

A federal judge has denied class action and dismissed several defendants in a lawsuit filed by New Mexico cockfighters, gutting the New Mexico Game Fowl Breeders Association's pursuit of $77 million for alleged civil rights violations.

Animal rights activists hailed Wednesday's decision by U.S. Chief District Judge Martha Vazquez.

"That pulls the rug out from under it," said Heather Ferguson of Animal Protection New Mexico, who works with an attorney general's task force that investigates cockfighting.

However, Game Fowl Breeders Association president Ronnie Barron of Artesia vowed that the case isn't over. The judge gave the plaintiffs 10 days to restructure their arguments, and Barron indicated the group will try to address Vazquez's concerns.

Barron claims cockfighters' civil rights repeatedly have been violated through New Mexico's enforcement of a 2007 law banning the bloodsport.

"If we can't get this into court, how are we supposed to prove what's happening?" he said.

Among the defendants dismissed from the lawsuit were the sheriffs of Bernalillo, Dona Ana and Otero counties, as well as Dona Ana County's animal control officer.

Ferguson remains as a defendant, along with Attorney General Gary King, who characterized the judge's decision as the beginning of the end for the lawsuit.

"The court's dismissal does not affect all the defendants, including me, but I think it is the first step toward dismissal for all defendants," King said in a news release.

Vazquez wrote in her ruling she was troubled by a lack of evidence to support cockfighters' claims that up to 2,000 people could be affected in the proposed class action, saying plaintiffs attorneys failed to substantiate the claim.

She also said a class action was inappropriate because circumstances can vary widely in the state's prosecution of individual cases.

"Indeed, a class action may well result in a manifest injustice for one or more plaintiffs because the individual details of one or two particularly compelling cases ... might not receive the consideration and time from this court that their individual circumstances would truly warrant," the judge wrote.

Ferguson called cockfighters' claims "baseless and absurd" and noted that last summer, the New Mexico Supreme Court rejected a challenge by cockfighters to the state law. New Mexico was one of the last states to ban cockfighting, followed only by Louisiana.

"The courts seemingly have scoured the Constitution and have not found any indication of a civil right that allows people to strap knives on the heels of roosters to fight to the death," she said.