The New Mexico Risk Management Division doesn’t want to pay to defend former Doña Ana County Magistrate Judge Reuben Galvan against a civil lawsuit brought by a woman who alleges he raped her.
The agency requested last month that a federal judge declare that Galvan was acting outside the scope of his duties on the night in question and, therefore, it has no duty to defend him or pay if there’s a judgment against him, according to the Las Cruces Sun-News. That could leave Galvan responsible for his own defense and any potential judgment against him.
The woman who accused Galvan, 45, of rape and bribery in 2004 filed a lawsuit against him in August. The allegations ended Galvan’s judicial career in 2005 but, after two criminal trials ended with hung juries, prosecutors dropped the charges. The civil lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 17 in
The Sun-News reported that risk management, in its filing, argued that, “if the allegations in the complaint are true, (Galvan) was not acting within the scope of his duties at any time material to the plaintiff’s claims.”
Galvan’s attorney claimed during both criminal trials that his accuser would later sue. Galvan told me last fall that the woman’s allegations are “all about the money. It’s always been about the money.”
He has contended all along that the sex was consensual.