Opinion ID: 2514410
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Law of the Case Doctrine Justified the District Court's Refusal to Reopen the Forfeiture Issue in this Case

Text: ¶ 29 The district court, invoking the law of the case doctrine, refused to reconsider the issue of forfeiture because it had already decided that issue by granting summary judgment in favor of IHC. We agree that the refusal was properly within the district court's discretion. ¶ 30 In denying D & K's motion, the district court enumerated D & K's numerous opportunities to argue substantial compliance as a defense to forfeiture. The parties first litigated the forfeiture issue prior to the appeal in D & K I. At that time, IHC moved for a declaratory judgment on the forfeiture issue, asserting that IHC was entitled to declaratory judgment on the claim of forfeiture and that all of D & K's affirmative defenses failed as a matter of law. D & K, therefore, had both the opportunity and the obligation to raise any defenses in opposition to IHC's claim of forfeiture or risk being barred from presenting them in this or any future proceeding by the law of the case doctrine. ¶ 31 The district court noted that D & K was given additional chances to argue substantial compliance as a defense to IHC's forfeiture claim. If, as it claims, D & K had properly preserved the defense of substantial compliance by pleading unconscionability in its Answer, D & K would have been free to brief the issue to this court on appeal, but it failed to do so. When this court reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment, IHC's forfeiture claim was again before the district court on IHC's Motion for Summary Judgment. Again D & K failed to raise substantial compliance on remand. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of IHC on its forfeiture claim. ¶ 32 While the district court may have had discretion to reconsider the issue of forfeiture, the law of the case doctrine justified its refusal to reopen the issue to consider D & K's newly developed substantial compliance argument. D & K argues that we should reverse the ruling of the district court because it erroneously held that it had no discretion to reconsider. Given discretion, D & K argues, the district court might have reopened the issue. But D & K's argument directly contradicts the record. The district court concluded that it had no discretion and, at the same time, indicated that it would decline to reopen the issue if it had discretion. The district court, having been briefed on D & K's substantial compliance argument, stated that it d[id] not find that D & K ha[d] presented the Court with facts that would support a substantial compliance defense. The district court thus held that it would decline to hear the substantial compliance argument, or, in the alternative, that D & K could not prevail on the merits as a matter of law even if it considered the substantial compliance defense. Therefore, it is unnecessary for this court to decide whether the mandate rule bound the district court to follow its earlier decision. The law of the case doctrine clearly granted the district court discretion as to whether to reopen the previously decided forfeiture issue, and it properly declined to do so. ¶ 33 There are, however, exceptions to the law of the case doctrine, which, if applicable, require a district court to revisit an issue it has already decided. We now discuss these exceptions.