Opinion ID: 4524755
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Prudential Standing and Judicial Estoppel

Text: While Nitka I was pending before this court, Nitka filed a petition for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But he did not list his ongoing suit against Nelnet on his schedule of assets. Nelnet argues that this failure means Nitka lacks prudential standing, see Mauerhan v. Wagner Corp., 649 F.3d 1180, 1184 n.3 (10th Cir. 2011) (“When an individual files for bankruptcy, all interests of the debtor become property of the bankruptcy estate, including causes of action. The trustee of the bankruptcy estate has the sole capacity to sue and be sued over the assets of the estate.” (citations omitted)); 11 U.S.C. § 554(d) (providing that property that isn’t administered and is not abandoned remains the property of the estate), and is subject to the doctrine of judicial estoppel, see Eastman v. Union Pac. R. Co., 493 F.3d 1151, 1158-60 (10th Cir. 2007) (applying judicial estoppel where bankruptcy petitioner concealed his causes of action). Although Nitka filed his bankruptcy proceeding before the remand in Nitka I, Nelnet did not present these arguments to the district court. And it offers no 4 explanation why it did not make these arguments earlier. We have discretion to consider a new argument for affirming a decision, see Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 121 (1976); Richison v. Ernest Grp., Inc., 634 F.3d 1123, 1130 (10th Cir. 2011), but we decline to do so here. The arguments do not implicate subject-matter jurisdiction, see New Hampshire v. Maine, 532 U.S. 742, 750 (2001) (recognizing that “judicial estoppel is an equitable doctrine invoked by a court at its discretion” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Finstuen v. Crutcher, 496 F.3d 1139, 1147 (10th Cir. 2007) (“Prudential standing is not jurisdictional in the same sense as Article III standing.”), and their proper resolution is not certain, cf. Cox v. Glanz, 800 F.3d 1231, 1246 n.7 (10th Cir. 2015) (“[O]ur discretion allows us to determine an issue raised for the first time on appeal if it is a pure matter of law and its proper resolution is certain.” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Accordingly, we proceed to consider the merits of the dismissal.