Opinion ID: 769374
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Defendants' Additional Arguments on Appeal

Text: 114 The Hilliards argue that we should nevertheless affirm the district court's grant of summary judgment because the oral promise to fund is unenforceable. The bases for this contention are twofold: (1) the alleged promise was so indefinite that there could not have been a meeting of the minds; and (2) the promise is not in writing as is necessary to modify the Shareholders' Agreement and is also required by the New York Statute of Frauds. 115 Both of these grounds were briefed by the parties below, but the district court elected not to address them. Although we are empowered to affirm a district court's decision on a theory not considered below, it is our distinctly preferred practice to remand such issues for consideration by the district court in the first instance. This is particularly appropriate when, as here, such theories have been briefed and argued only cursorily in this Court. See Thompson v. County of Franklin, 15 F.3d 245, 253 (2d Cir. 1994). We therefore remand to allow the district court to consider these arguments in the first instance.