Opinion ID: 779029
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Equitable-Estoppel and Bad-Faith Defenses

Text: 20 We find HD's equitable estoppel defense waived because at no time in HD's two-page statement of its equitable estoppel defense before the bankruptcy court did HD theorize that as a basis for this defense that it relied on misleading weekly inventory reports. See In re Kroner, 953 F.2d 317, 319-20 (7th Cir.1992). Rather, in the pretrial order, HD claimed equitable estoppel as a defense because SNA led HD to believe through silence that SNA would not enforce the contracts. Further, HD's alternative argument that it was error to fail to consider whether SNA acted in bad faith is also waived because the first time HD attempts to support this theory (by claiming that it relied on misleading weekly inventory reports) is on appeal. See id. 21 In any event, even if HD had preserved these two arguments in the pretrial order, we would still be unpersuaded by HD's appeal as we find no clear error in the factual determinations accepted by the district court. See Thomas v. General Motors Acceptance Corp., 288 F.3d 305, 307 (7th Cir.2002). Based on the recommended findings the district court expressly found that SNA maintained the ability to meet HD's contractual requirements in October 1994, thereby implicitly rejecting HD's argument that certain weekly inventory reports from that time period suggested otherwise. This finding is supported by the testimony of Rich, who explained that the reports referenced by HD only reflected finished goods in inventory that were boxed, tested by outside microbiological laboratories, stamped, and ready for delivery. These reports, however, did not reflect unfinished product or product delivered on the date of the report. As HD has shown no clear error, we decline to reverse the district court on appeal.