Charles R. Peifer

Shareholder

Chuck Peifer joined the firm after serving as New Mexico's Chief Assistant Attorney General, where he supervised the work of the 30 lawyers in the Attorney General's four civil law divisions and represented executive agencies and members of the judiciary in the State Supreme Court. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, a listing based on a lawyer survey, in the categories of commercial litigation and “bet-the-company” litigation and is listed in Chambers USA “America’s Leading Business Lawyers,” also a listing based on a lawyer survey, in the category of General Commercial Litigation. Before joining the Attorney General's Office, he practiced at Rodey, Dickason, Sloan, Akin & Robb, P.A., concentrating in the defense of medical malpractice, products liability, general tort, and employment cases as a member of the firm's tort litigation department. Chuck is an honors graduate of The Johns Hopkins University and a magna cum laude graduate of Cornell Law School.  He served as a member of the Supreme Court of New Mexico's Committee on Uniform Jury Instructions for Civil Cases from 1995-2003 and chaired that Committee from 2004 - 2007.   He has served as an adjunct faculty member for the University of New Mexico’s Law School Evidence and Trial Practice Program.

Areas of Practice

• First Amendment Law
• Class Action Law
• Commercial Litigation
• General Civil Litigation

Admitted

• 1985, New Mexico
• U.S. District Court, District of New Mexico
• U.S. District Court, District of Arizona
• U.S. Court of Appeals, Ninth and Tenth Circuit
• U.S. Supreme Court

Bar Association Memberships

• State Bar of New Mexico
• American College of Trial Lawyers
• Lawyer Pilots Bar

Biography

• Omicron Delta Kappa; Order of the Coif
• Listed, Best Lawyers in America, 2002-Present
• Recipient, Super Lawyers 2008-Present
• Chief Assistant Attorney General, State of New Mexico, 1989-1990
• President, New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, 1997-1998
• Member, 1995-2003, and Chairperson, 2004-2007, New Mexico Supreme Court
• Committee on Uniform Jury Instructions for Civil Cases

Reported Cases

• Republican Party of New Mexico v. New Mexico Taxation & Rev. Dep't, 2012-NMSC-026
• State ex rel. King v. Lyons, 2011-NMSC-004
• Ideal v. Burlington Res. Oil & Gas Co., 2010-NMSC-22, 233 P.3d 362
• Davis v. Devon Energy Corp., 2009-NMSC-48, 147 N.M. 157, 218 P.3d 75
• Ferrell v. Allstate Ins. Co., 2008-NMSC-42, 144 N.M. 405, 188 P.3d 1156
• Chevron v. State ex rel. Dep’t of Taxation & Revenue, 2006-NMCA-050, 134 P.2d 785
• Starko v. Cimarron Health Plan, Inc.,2005 NMCA 40, 110 P.3d 576
• Sullivan v. America Online, Inc., 2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17906 (D.N.M.)
• Rodriguez v. America Online, Inc., 183 F. Supp.2d 1340 (D.N.M. 2001)
• Hudson v. Village Inn Pancake House of Albuquerque, Inc., 131 N.M. 308, 35 P.3d 313
• (Ct. App. 2001)
• Howard v. Everex Systems, Inc., 228 F.3d 1057 (9th Cir. 2000)
• Public Service Company of New Mexico v. Lyons, 2000 NMCA 77, 10 P.3d 166;
• Revo v. Disciplinary Board, 106 F.3d929 (10th Cir. 1997)
• Aranda v. Camacho, 123 NM 763, 931 P.2d 757 (Ct. App. 1997)
• Gulack v. Allstate Insurance Co., 1996 Dist. Lexis 21053 (D.N.M. August 28,1996)
• K.L. v. Valdez, 167 FRD 688 (DNM 1996)
• Local 2839 v. Udall, 111 NM 432, 806 P.2d 572 (1991)
• Duran v. Carruthers, 888 F.2d 1492 (10th Cir. 1989)
• Duran v. Carruthers, 885 F.2d 1485 (10th Cir. 1989)