Opinion ID: 799446
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez Waived Any Argument for Abatement.

Text: Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez argue alternatively that the district court erred when it refused to abate this action pending a determination by a Florida administrative law judge that J.C.S.M.'s injuries are compensable under the no-fault plan. They contend that, if the administrative law judge determines that J.C.S.M.'s injuries do not qualify as a birth-related neurological injury or that Maradiaga was not provided with notice of her rights and responsibilities under the no-fault compensation plan, then the Compensation Act will not foreclose a civil action for J.C.S.M.'s injuries. They also maintain that, under Florida precedents, see, e.g., Bennett v. St. Vincent's Med. Ctr., 71 So.3d 828, 835 (Fla.2011), the district court should have abated their action, and the district court, by dismissing their action, failed to protect their right to seek redress for J.C.S.M.'s injuries if their administrative claim is denied. Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez also contend that the Compensation Act does not foreclose their civil action to the extent that Stanton and Audette acted with reckless and wanton disregard for the rights, well-being, and safety of J.C.S.M. Cf. Fla. Stat. § 766.303(2). These arguments fail because Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez either affirmatively waived or forfeited the right to raise them. When a party invites a ruling by a district court, he affirmatively waives the right to challenge that ruling on appeal. See United States v. Brannan, 562 F.3d 1300, 1306 (11th Cir.2009); Ford ex rel. Estate of Ford v. Garcia, 289 F.3d 1283, 1293-94 (11th Cir.2002). And [i]t is well settled that issues not raised in the district court in the first instance are forfeited. Douglas Asphalt Co. v. QORE, Inc., 657 F.3d 1146, 1152 (11th Cir.2011). To prevail on a particular theory of liability, a party must present that argument to the district court. Fils v. City of Aventura, 647 F.3d 1272, 1284 (11th Cir.2011). Our adversarial system requires it; district courts cannot concoct or resurrect arguments neither made nor advanced by the parties. Id. That federal courts can take notice of state law does not mean that a party relying upon such law need not cite it to the court or present argument based upon it, or that federal courts must scour the law of a ... state for possible arguments a claimant ... might have made. Cont'l Tech. Servs., Inc. v. Rockwell Intern. Corp., 927 F.2d 1198, 1199 (11th Cir. 1991). Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez waived any right to the abatement of this action. In their response to the order that directed them to address whether the district court should abate the action pending the resolution of their administrative claim, Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez urged the district court to refrain from abatement. When the district court granted their request, they waived any right to complain about it on appeal. See Brannan, 562 F.3d at 1306; Ford, 289 F.3d at 1293-94. Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez offered the district court no cause to believe that abatement was necessary. They instead gambled that the district court would agree with their argument that Stanton and Audette were not covered by the Compensation Act. That gamble did not pay off. To the extent that they now argue on appeal that the district court should have abated their action based on their allegation of reckless and wanton conduct, Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez raised no such argument in the district court. Nor did they cite any Florida law to support that proposition. They forfeited that argument. Douglas Asphalt Co., 657 F.3d at 1152. The district court was under no obligation to scour Florida law in search of support for an argument they never raised. Cont'l Tech. Servs., 927 F.2d at 1199. The district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied the motions for relief from judgment and to reopen the case. In their motion for relief from judgment, Maradiaga and Sordia-Martinez sought relief under Rule 60(b), Fed. R.Civ.P. 60(b), and they concede that their motion to reopen the case should also be construed as a motion for relief under that same rule, cf. Gonzalez v. Crosby, 545 U.S. 524, 528, 125 S.Ct. 2641, 2645, 162 L.Ed.2d 480 (2005). Rule 60 was not intended to relieve counsel of the consequences of decisions deliberately made, although subsequent events reveal that such decisions were unwise. Federal's Inc. v. Edmonton Inv. Co., 555 F.2d 577, 583 (6th Cir. 1977); see also Eskridge v. Cook County, 577 F.3d 806, 810 (7th Cir.2009). To succeed in a challenge to the denial of a Rule 60(b) motion, the movant must prove some justification for relief. Cavaliere, 996 F.2d at 1115 (internal quotation marks omitted). It is not an abuse of discretion for the district court to deny a motion under Rule 60(b) when that motion is premised upon an argument that the movant could have, but did not, advance before the district court entered judgment. See Couch v. Travelers Ins. Co., 551 F.2d 958, 960 (5th Cir.1977). Nor is it an abuse of discretion for the district court to deny a motion under Rule 60(b) when the judgment or order from which the movant seeks relief was entered as a result of the movant's choice to rely on an unsuccessful legal theory. See Federal's Inc., 555 F.2d at 583.