Opinion ID: 164354
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: MCCC Cross-Appeal

Text: 113 MCCC appeals the district court's decision not to award it attorney fees incurred in this litigation. We affirm because MCCC's argument on appeal is not the one it presented to the district court. See, e.g., Bancamerica Commercial Corp. v. Mosher Steel of Kan., Inc., 100 F.3d 792, 798-99 (10th Cir.1996) (court will not consider a new theory on appeal, even one that falls under the same general category as an argument presented at trial (internal quotation marks omitted)), opinion amended on other grounds, 103 F.3d 80 (10th Cir.1996). 114 MCCC relies on 12 Okla. Stat. § 936. When the district court rendered judgment the statute provided: 115 In any civil action to recover on an open account, a statement of account, account stated, note, bill, negotiable instrument, or contract relating to the purchase or sale of goods, wares, or merchandise, or for labor or services, unless otherwise provided by law or the contract which is the subject of the action, the prevailing party shall be allowed a reasonable attorney fee to be set by the court, to be taxed and collected as costs. 116 12 Okla. Stat. § 936 (2002) (emphasis added). In district court MCCC argued that the Agreement was a contract for services because ERC provided various services, including same-day processing of reimbursement requests; assistance in locating defense counsel; providing information on plaintiffs' attorneys, local values, and jury trends; and providing advice on pursuit of declaratory judgment actions. 117 On appeal MCCC still claims that this suit is to recover on a contract for services, but it no longer refers to services by ERC. Instead, the services it refers to are services provided by attorneys hired by MCCC to represent it in the declaratory judgment actions with MCCC's insureds. MCCC argues that because this litigation between MCCC and ERC dealt in part with MCCC's ability to recover from ERC sums that MCCC paid to the declaratory judgment attorneys, this lawsuit is a civil action to recover for services rendered, and MCCC is entitled to attorney fees it incurred in this lawsuit. 118 MCCC attempts to justify this switch in theories on the ground that the Oklahoma legislature recently amended the statute to clarify its meaning and to correct courts that had been incorrectly interpreting the statute. The newly amended version of § 936, enacted after the district court decided the attorney-fee issue, states: 119 In any civil action to recover for labor or services rendered, or on an open account, a statement of account, account stated, note, bill, negotiable instrument, or contract relating to the purchase or sale of goods, wares, or merchandise, unless otherwise provided by law or the contract which is the subject of the action, the prevailing party shall be allowed a reasonable attorney fee to be set by the court, to be taxed and collected as costs. 120 12 Okla. Stat. § 936 (November 1, 2002) (emphasis added). According to MCCC, this clarification supports an award of attorney fees under facts different from those argued to the district court. To be sure, in some circumstances an appellate court may allow a party to raise an issue for the first time on appeal because of an intervening change in the law. See United States v. Charley, 189 F.3d 1251, 1279 (10th Cir.1999) (Holloway, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). But this is not such a circumstance. As MCCC admits, any change in the Oklahoma statute was not applicable to this case. As a result, MCCC's reference to the amended statute is simply to support its argument regarding what the law meant at the time it argued its theory to the district court. The presence of this additional evidence cannot justify MCCC's switch with respect to the services it contends made this lawsuit a suit to recover for breach of a contract ... for ... services. We therefore refuse to consider MCCC's new theory. See Bancamerica Commercial Corp., 100 F.3d at 798-99. We affirm the district court's denial of attorney fees.