Filed deeds could impact Arroyo Hondo Land Grant areas
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| Pastor J.D. Smith of Grace Community Church in Hondo sits beneath a sign that reads "Expect a miracle." A land sale by the church was held up because a warranty deed was filed that claims the entire Arroyo Hondo Land Grant. Photo by Tina Larkin |
By J.R. Logan
Monday, February 28, 2011 6:07 AM MST
Two warranty deeds filed at the Taos County Clerk's office could have a major impact on all properties that fall within the boundaries of the Cristóbal de la Serna and Arroyo Hondo land grants.
Just ask J.D. Smith.
Smith is pastor of Grace Community Church in Arroyo Hondo. From the 1940s until recently, the church was housed in a small building on Lower Hondo Road. But at the end of last year, the congregation moved to a modern and spacious facility just up the hill.
After the move, Smith said he had arranged a deal with a potential buyer for the former church property, which includes a single building on a 10th of an acre.
The price was set at $85,000, and by Jan. 19, both parties were ready to close. "We went through all the motions and we were supposed to get a check that afternoon," Smith told The Taos News.
But the deal hit a snag.
Smith said a title company was hired to guarantee the ownership of the property for the buyer.
When the title company went to the county offices to do a title search, an abnormality appeared.
The title company discovered that, in October 2010, a warranty deed was filed that lay claim to the entire Arroyo Hondo Land Grant — a 20,000-acre swath located a few miles north of Taos.
Smith said the title company balked when it came across the deed. The document put a question mark on the ownership of his and potentially every other property within the grant, and the title company could not guarantee title without adding an exception.
Smith said the encumbrance clouded title to the property, and the mortgage lender refused to front the money for the buyer.
The deal was stopped dead in its tracks.
Smith doesn't mince words when he talks about the trouble the deed for the Hondo Grant has caused.
But he and Grace Community Church might not be the ones to legally challenge the claim.
As a church, excess funds to pursue litigation are scarce, Smith said. And for such a small piece of property, a lawsuit to get the cloud off of the title would barely be worth the effort.
No evidence required
On Oct. 20, 2010, Manuel Ortiz Sr. filed a warranty deed with the Taos County Clerk, which asserted that he was passing title of the entire Arroyo Hondo Grant to "the Arroyo Hondo Grant Board of Trustees, which is comprised of Heirs selected according to the by-laws of the Arroyo Hondo Grant."
Attached to the deed is a 12-page plat of the grant, done by the U.S. surveyor general, dated 1896.
No names of board members are listed on the warranty deed, and the only contact information is a post office box in Arroyo Hondo.
According to the secretary of state's office, Lawrence M. Ortiz, Leandro Ortiz, Melissa Ortiz, Raymond I. Trujillo and Herman F. Gonzales are listed as the "provisional" board of trustees for the Hondo Grant.
Leandro and Lawrence Ortiz are the sons of Manuel Ortiz, Sr. Two months later, Robert O. Gonzales of Ranchos de Taos filed a similar warranty deed for the entire 22,232-acre Cristóbal de la Serna Land Grant.
The deed stated that Gonzales was passing title to "the Heirs of La Merced de Cristóbal de la Serna, whom are the Heirs of Cristóbal de la Serna, Diego Romero and their assignees." Attached to that deed was a 14-page ancestry spanning seven generations.
In order to file a warranty deed in New Mexico, a person need only present the proper form stamped by a notary public that identifies the exact property being deeded and the names of the grantee and the grantor.
No evidence of title or ownership is required to file the deed, and there is no fee.
Also filed Oct. 20, 2010, with the warranty deed for the Hondo grant was a "Declaration of Assignees Update of Patent" signed by Leandro A. Ortiz and his brother, Lawrence M. Ortiz.
The declaration cites, among other documents, the Declaration of Independence and Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It asserts that a land patent (such as that issued for the Arroyo Hondo Grant in 1908) is the "highest evidence of title and is conclusive as evidence against the government and all claiming under junior patents or titles."
In the past, such declarations have been filed in cases where property owners living on homesteaded land tried to prove that a governmental entity cannot collect tax, nor can a bank foreclose, on a patented property because the patent takes precedence.
Notice of eviction
The very same day that the warranty deed and declaration were filed with the Taos County Clerk for the entire Arroyo Hondo Grant, a small piece of property formerly owned by Lawrence Ortiz went to auction in front of the Taos County Courthouse.
District court records show that, in Oct. 2007, Lawrence Ortiz took out a $136,500 mortgage on a 1.2-acre piece of property in Arroyo Hondo, located at 104 Hondo Seco Road.
Three years later, a district court judge ordered a foreclosure on the same property after the judge ruled that Lawrence Ortiz had defaulted on the loan.
Following the judge's ruling, it was advertised that the property would be put up for sale to the highest bidder at an auction Oct. 20, 2010, outside the Taos County Courthouse.
Last week, the county recorded 104 Hondo Seco Road as being the property of Wells Fargo Bank, which had issued the mortgage. As an addendum to the documents filed on behalf of the Arroyo Hondo Grant, a notice of eviction was included with the warranty deed and declaration.
The eviction notice states: "To the purchaser of a private property known as House 104 Hondo Seco Rd. in Arroyo Hondo, Taos County, New Mexico, and which is situated on a tract of inherited land allotted to Lawrence M. Ortiz, this tract of land is known to be within the patented exterior boundaries of the Arroyo Hondo Grant."
The notice continues: "As such it is within the legal right of the Arroyo Hondo Grant Board of Trustees to demand that your personal private property be removed from within the exterior boundaries of the Arroyo Hondo Grant if you are a non-heir or to your own allotted property if you are an heir."
Phone messages left by The Taos News asking for comment from Leandro Ortiz were not returned.
At a Taos Municipal School Board meeting Jan. 26, Lawrence and Leandro Ortiz spoke against a proposal to create the Columbine Hondo Wilderness Area. Students from Vista Grande High School gave a presentation, but the Ortiz brothers argued that the land was rightfully the property of the Hondo grant.
Leandro Ortiz told the board, "Díos de mi vida, God bless us, we're going to stand and fight. Because blood will follow blood."
Federally patented
On Feb. 16, an eviction notice similar to the one filed by Lawrence Ortiz was turned in to the county clerk by Eldon Torres, president of La Merced de Cristóbal de la Serna.
The notice asserted that a property on Mule Deer Road in Llano Quemado was the inherited land of Enrique Romero.
That day representatives of La Merced de Cristóbal de la Serna met with Taos County Attorney Barbara Martínez and other employees to demand that the notice of eviction be served by Sheriff Miguel Romero Jr.
In a recording of that meeting provided to The Taos News, Martínez explained that the board of trustees would have to get an order from a judge before the sheriff could legally serve an eviction notice.
Paul Martínez, a Questa resident who has been acting as a "paid consultant" for the Hondo and Serna Grants, told Barbara Martínez that a lawsuit was coming. Paul Martínez has stated that previous court decisions against heirs of land grants and land grant associations are unfounded for jurisdictional reasons.
Land grants are federally patented, Paul Martínez argues, and are subject to change only by the federal government.
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