santafenewmexican.com · Phaedra Haywood phaywood@sfnewmexican.com · September 9, 2026
With $1 billion on the line following New Mexico trial, Meta wants a do-over | Local News | santafenewmexican.com
# With $1 billion on the line following New Mexico trial, Meta wants a do-over
- By Phaedra Haywood phaywood@sfnewmexican.com
#### Phaedra Haywood
Courts Reporter
- Author email (phaywood@sfnewmexican.com) - Sep 8, 2026 - 57 mins ago - 0
Attorney Donald Migliori makes an argument Feb. 9 during the state's trial against Meta in state District Court. Jim Weber/New Mexican file photo
Meta wants a do-over.
The New Mexico Department of Justice recently secured a major victory against the world's largest social media company — Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta — obtaining rulings from a jury and judge that could potentially bring $1 billion in civil fines and abatement costs into state coffers.
However, if post-judgment motions the company filed Friday are any indicator, ongoing litigation will prevent the state from collecting on the judgments for years — if ever.
Meta filed more than a dozen new motions in the case leading into the long Labor Day weekend, asking State District Judge Bryan Biedscheid to amend most of his substantive findings in the case or, alternatively, to grant a new trial.
Biedscheid entered his findings of facts and conclusions of law in the case Aug. 6, ordering the company to pay $375 million in civil penalties and $567 million for abatement. That followed a jury's finding that the company had exposed the state's children to sexual predators and failed to warn consumers of the dangers of using its platforms, and the judge's finding that the company's actions contributed to a youth mental health crisis, thereby creating a public nuisance.
Meta representatives said the company intended to appeal and petitioned the court late last month to accept a $1.8 billion bond to stop collection of the judgment while an anticipated appeal was pending.
Notices of appeal are typically due within 30 days of a final judgement, which would have made Sept. 6 the deadline. No appeal has been filed. However, the company appears to be taking another approach to pushing back on the judgement — filing motions to amend, which effectively keep the 30-day period from tolling until they are heard.
Meta's attorneys want the court to amend nearly all of its substantive findings, including the amount of the civil penalties, the amount of the abatement and the injunctive relief — such as enhanced protections for youth accounts — which the judge already stated could not be paused while an appeal was pending.
It appears the company wants a rematch against the state on almost every core issue in the case, including whether it violated the state law, misled consumers or created a public nuisance that needs to be abated.
Even if the court confirms the need for an abatement fund, the company argues, the amount should be recalculated due to errors in the court's initial calculation, and reduced from $567 million to about $60 million.
The New Mexico Department of Justice has yet to respond to the hundreds of pages of motions, some of which were filed after 10 p.m. Friday and only began showing up in the court file Monday afternoon.
One set of post trial motions the state has had time to respond to — filed in late August — concerns the state's court costs in the case and whether a detailed breakdown of them should be filed under seal.
In addition to paying contract counsel somewhere in the range of $68 million to help litigate the case, the state agency spent about $5.4 million on cost such as expert witnesses, lodging and food, to name a few categories, according to the motion.
The costs "were necessary and reasonable" given "the complexity and scope of this case," which involved millions of pages of documents, more than a dozen expert witnesses, about 65 fact witness depositions, and 47 days of trial over several months, according to the state's filing of itemized costs.
"The costs awarded in this case are undoubtably higher than the norm. But given the massiveness and complexity of the litigation at issue, we do not regard the magnitude ... as particularly surprising," the motion says.
- Expert witnesses: About $2 million. - eDiscovery hosting fees, for storing electronic evidence used in the case: About $1.2 million. - Hearing and trial transcripts: About $753,100. - Hotel expenses: About $526,583. - Deposition costs: About $385,715. - Trial technician services: $262,715. - Investigative costs: $88,112. - Trial day meal costs: About $64,766. - Trial equipment rental costs: $46,766. - Court costs associated with electronically filing documents in the case: About $17,323. - Miscellaneous: About $14,000. - Service of process: About $11,369. - Testifying witness travel: About $2,556.
The state's motion says the agency only seeks to filed the information under seal in order to comply with a previous protective order in the case, and requested by Meta, which deem certain details of the case "confidential."
The motion argues the unredacted version of the costs should be sealed due to an "overriding interests that overcomes the right of public access to the court record," but also reserves the state's right to challenge the confidentiality later, including by opposing its own motion.
Meta objected in one of its many motions filed Friday, saying the protective order only shields a much more limited amount of information and the itemized costs should be filed unsealed into the public record.
The motion claims the state's more detailed submission — not available in the public record — shows that on March 27, 2026, three days after the jury trial ended, Motley Rice, the law firm hired to represent the state, "spent more than $16,000 on 59 different hotel rooms at the Inn and Spa at Loretto in Santa Fe."
"On the contrary, Meta appears to simply be referring to the fact that the State was formally billed for 59 days for a single hotel work room from the months-long Phase 1 trial on March 27, 2026," the state's motion says.
#### Takeaways
- The New Mexico Department of Justice recently secured a major victory against Meta, obtaining rulings from a jury and judge that could potentially bring $1 billion in civil fines and abatement costs into state coffers. - However, Meta filed more than a dozen motions in the case Friday, leading into the long Labor Day weekend, asking the judge to amend his findings in the case or in the alternative grant a new trial. - It appears the company wants a rematch against the state on almost every core issue in the case, including whether it violated the state law, misled consumers, or created a public nuisance which needs abating. - Even if the court confirms the need for an abatement fund, the company argues, the amount should be recalculated due to errors in the court's initial calculation, and reduced from $567 million to about $60 million. - The motions prevent the tolling of a 30-day timeframe to appeal the case, essentially ensuring New Mexico won't see its money anytime soon.
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