There was a hearing on the quiet title suit on October 30th. It looks like this could drag on for some time and is getting into legal hair splitting. The main outcome of this hearing was that all the intervenors except one were removed from the suit and the whole outcome is based on a legal term, “res judicata” which means that it involves something that was legally already settled. The matter in question is whether the outcome of the quiet title in 2004 applies to the current one or not. The attorney for the plaintiff claims it is a different suit for different property involving different people. The counter claim is that Golden River in 2024 and Arianna Solare in 2004 are basically the same–in legal language, “in privity with each other”–and that the property in question is the same in spite of a few lots being added to the current suit. That, to us here in the community is obvious. As far as the facts on the ground go, the house and school bus were both there in 2004, I took photos of the site back then and the house was under construction in the exact same location in the middle of a road then. At the end of the hearing a bench trial date in June 2025 was set to determine whether the facts that determined the 2004 outcome and the ones in the current suit are the same. Two days were set aside for this.
Golden River’s attorney was a lot more civil in the last two hearings than in the first 2023 hearing and one I wasn’t able to attend but he still interjected a false claim that the remaining intervenor didn’t have a house on her property when the subject was something else. His court briefs are filled with similar claims. As he has never been here and lives elsewhere, I assume he just takes any false claim his client makes and aggressively repeats them in court both orally and in writing.
And as for the Taos Mesa Animal Sanctuary, it is no longer operating either on the ground in our neighborhood nor as a New Mexico non-profit. It is operating in Texas under a new name and I assume has been reincorporated there. I haven’t checked the Texas corporate registration to confirm this nor do I want to give out the new name for it. If you’re interested, Google can do that for you. I have heard that there were up to 80 dogs there which I find hard to believe but 20 to 40 is pretty credible. The protagonist in all of this is no longer present in our community but she is still paying her attorney to prevent the quiet title suit from being permanently quashed so I assume she hasn’t given up hope of succeeding someday in her land grab and given that she waited 20 years to try a second time, it’s definitely possible that she could try this again in the future.
One response to “The Sanctuary is Closed but the Quiet Title Suit Drags on”
https://neelleylaw.com. Please visit this site <-, on lower left page click "Pay Invoice", enter reference "Tres Orejas Quiet Title Suit", and PLEASE make any donation possible. Or you can send a check using the address you find on the website. There are thousands owed (I don't have latest figure but it was around 7K this summer, including fees to cover the dismissed restraining order against us). Our attorney Carol Neelley has been great. We could use everyone's support. I make a monthly donation to the attorney fees, since the issue has been so important to me and all my neighbors here on the mesa. We hope to hear the judges determination in the quiet title suit in June 2025. It's been more than exasperating but worth it over this summer to preserve and maintain peace and quiet, and of course, peace among we neighbors. It's nice not to fear going for walks without being chased by escapee dogs or being chased by a truck at high speed, or aimed at and surveilled with high powered binoculars…or worse… or scowled out for driving on roads we have the right and need to use here. The house, however, still stands in the middle of the road!!! We enjoy the return of a bit of quiet though we think there are a few animals remaining at the previous sanctuary site. Oh good news! Coyotes returned to sing their songs soon after the (up to) 80 dogs were placed elsewhere. I am sure they are as relieved in the quiet as much as we humans and many other creatures who peacefully live here. Now if we could convince everyone to preserve our dark skies, cover you big windows at night with curtains, keep the solar lights pointing down and not up killing the natural star light! The airport and all the gas stations in town are doing that for us already. Muchissimas Gracias and have a nice quiet winter.