Estancia Mayor Files Tort Claim Notice Indicating Intent to Sue Town
Mayor Runnel Riley alleges HIPAA violations at Estancia Fire Department; town clerk censors all details in notice.
Estancia Mayor Runnel Riley has filed a formal notice of tort claim against the Town of Estancia, alleging some sort of injury occurred at the Estancia Fire Department, according to a document obtained by the Dispatch. The description of the tort claims, which are part of the public record in many cases, was redacted in its entirety by Town Clerk Veronica Navarrette.
Riley has separately informed the Estancia Board of Trustees via email that he is requesting a 90-day leave of absence from his duties as mayor and has stated that he has not abandoned his position.
The Tort Claim
The notice, dated April 13, 2026, was addressed to the Town Clerk and the governing body of the Town of Estancia, with attention directed specifically to Navarrette. Riley identified himself as the claimant.
The claim lists the dates of the alleged occurrence as spanning from January 26, 2026, through February 26, 2026. The location is identified as the Estancia Fire Department, with a notation that the Town Administrative Offices had been crossed out as an alternative location.
In the damages section, Riley states he is seeking compensation for reputational harm, emotional distress, and violation of privacy rights.
In handwriting consistent with other notations on the document, Riley identified the nature of his claim as "HIPPA Violations" — an apparent misspelling of HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, the federal statute governing the privacy of individually identifiable health information. The Mountainair Dispatch reached out to Riley regarding his claim, specifically whether Riley or his counsel intends to invoke HIPAA at trial and whether he has filed a formal administrative complaint with the US Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights. Riley did not respond to this communication.
Redaction and the IPRA Dispute
The section of the form designated for a description of the incident — Section 3 — has been covered by a printed redaction block bearing the notation: "REDACTED DUE TO CONFIDENTIAL CONTENT – V NAVARRETTE. TOWN CLERK."
The redaction of the description is at the center of an ongoing Inspection of Public Records Act dispute between the Mountainair Dispatch and the Town of Estancia. The Dispatch has formally challenged Navarrette's redaction of multiple documents and has filed a complaint with the New Mexico Attorney General's Office regarding the matter (NMDOJ-ECS-20260424-8af6).
Under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act, notices of tort claim filed against a governmental entity are generally considered public records. The Act does not recognize a general confidentiality exception for the substantive description of an incident in such a filing.
A Mayor Suing His Own Town
The filing places Riley in an unusual legal posture: as mayor, he is the chief elected officer of the governmental body against which he is now pursuing a tort claim. Under New Mexico law, a notice of tort claim is the required precursor to a lawsuit against a governmental entity; without it, the claimant cannot later bring suit in district court.
The claim does not name individual town employees as respondents; it is addressed to the governing body as a whole and to the town clerk.
Riley's Health and the Fundraiser
The town's redaction of the tort claim notice, allegedly based on health privacy law, comes against the backdrop of Mayor Riley revealing his medical conditions to the public on the "Give A Hand" fundraising site sometime in 2025. A fundraising page on the platform, organized by Riley under his name (Riley has claimed that a nurse created this page for his behalf), describes a range of significant medical conditions and requests $14,000 in assistance. The page was created approximately one year before the date of this article.
On the fundraiser website, Riley lists the following conditions:
- Ankylosing spondylitis
- Arterial narrowing
- Atrial fibrillation
- Asthma and thyroid disease (Riley lists "Asthma Thyroid" without further specification)
- Congestive heart failure
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Kidney failure, with approximately 80 percent of kidney function lost
- Multiple drug-resistant E. coli in the intestines and urinary tract
- Non-alcoholic cirrhosis of the liver, Stage 4
- Peripheral neuropathy affecting the hands, feet, and legs
- Severe thyroid issues
- A mass in the colon, with results pending to determine whether it is malignant; Riley states the mass requires surgical removal regardless of the outcome.
Riley writes on the fundraiser page that his physicians have not cleared him to return to work. As of the date this article was prepared, the fundraiser had raised $0 of its $14,000 goal and had received no donations.
Riley claimed he would be available during the leave of absence. The Mountainair Dispatch asked Riley why he needed a 90-day leave of absence, when he learned he needed to take a 90-day leave of absence, what Riley would be doing on the leave of absence, the legal basis for Riley’s claim that he has not abandoned his elected position during the leave of absence, and whether Riley had any messages for the people of Estancia. Riley did not respond to this request for comment.
The Mountainair Dispatch is an independent, reader-supported watchdog news outlet covering Torrance County, New Mexico. To support this reporting, visit www.mountainairdispatch.com.