Landlord, as the prevailing party, was entitled to attorney fees and costs. —
Where tenants signed a lease agreement with landlord to rent the subject property for a
term of sixteen months, and where the parties subsequently agreed to end the lease
several months early, and where landlord sent tenants an accounting that itemized
deductions from tenants' damage deposit, and where tenants filed a complaint
contesting the amount landlord deducted from their damage deposit and landlord filed a
cross-claim stating that she was entitled to additional damages beyond those itemized
in the deductions, and where tenants claimed that, 47-8-18(C) and 47-8-18(D) NMSA
1978 require a landlord to provide a tenant with an itemized listing of all damages to
property within thirty days of the date the lease ends, and any claim for damages not
then identified is forfeited, and where the district rejected tenants' argument, concluding
that the plain meaning of 47-8-18 NMSA 1978 only prohibits a landlord from filing an
independent claim for damages if the landlord failed to comply with the statute's terms
regarding return of the damage deposit, and awarded landlord, as the prevailing party,
attorney fees and costs, the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that
landlord was the prevailing party, because landlord prevailed on the main issue in her
cross-claim and tenants were found liable for over $2,300 in damages to landlord's
property. Stodgell v. Weissman, 2025-NMCA-003, cert. denied.