Opinion ID: 222490
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Denial of Second Motion to Reconsider

Text: After we dismissed Multiut and Draiman's first appeal for lack of jurisdiction, the case returned to the district court and both sides submitted briefing on the proper computation of prejudgment interest. While the district court was considering that issue, Multiut and Draiman filed a motion asking the district court to reconsider its summary judgment rulings. They recognized that the district court had denied their previous motion to reconsider, but asserted that new evidence they obtained in connection with their multi-district litigation action against Dynegy rendered the grants of summary judgment inappropriate. The new evidence included an affidavit and a memorandum from former Dynegy employee Jeffrey Hornback, which demonstrated that Dynegy was aware of the alleged price index manipulation while it was contracting with Multiut, and an affidavit from Dr. Michael Harris, an economist who reviewed the FERC report and concluded that manipulation of the gas price indices out west would have impacted prices in Chicago. The district court ordered briefing on the motion to reconsider but denied it (and its accompanying evidentiary submissions) without reaching the merits. In doing so, the district court first cited concerns of finality and noted that it had already visited the issue of price index manipulation at least twice. The district court gave as an alternative ground the limited scope of the mandate we issued, which instructed the district court only to determine prejudgment interest. The district court reasoned, [i]t would be contrary to the spirit of [the mandate] to construe it as an open invitation to allow the parties to delve back into the substantive issues of the case, issues that were the subject of the appeal in the first place. Multiut and Draiman now contend that the district court erred in disregarding their new evidence and denying their motion. But they do not challenge either of the district court's asserted bases for denying their motion. Instead, they assert that the district court should have reconsidered its summary judgment ruling in light of the Hornback and Harris affidavits. They then walk us through the evidence and reiterate that the evidence was not in their possession when summary judgment briefs were filed. These arguments do not get them very far, as they have failed to articulate a ground on which we could find that the district court abused its discretion. The district court did not deny their motion because the evidence was not newly discovered, or because it failed to find a nexus between the evidence and the summary judgment motion; it denied it for other grounds that Multiut and Draiman wholly disregard. We cannot make a party's arguments for him, or force him to make arguments he seems determined not to raise. United States v. Foster, 577 F.3d 813, 816 (7th Cir.2009). Multiut and Draiman have waived any relevant argument. We affirm the district court's denial of their motion to reconsider.