Attorney General Gary King is asking the New Mexico Supreme Court for permission to intervene in a lawsuit on behalf of a disabled veteran who was fired by the state after serving two tours in Iraq.
King, a Democrat running against Gov. Susana Martinez, says the state should have already settled the case. Martinez spokesman Enrique Knell says the man was fired twice previously by the Richardson administration for insubordination and not showing up to work.
In 2009, a Gallup jury awarded $100,000 to Phillip Ramirez, a National Guardsman with PTSD who claimed his firing from the New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department violated the Uniformed Service Employment and Reemployment Rights Act requiring employers to accommodate veterans' disabilities.
CYFD appealed the case, and it was reversed by the New Mexico Court of Appeals.
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