Opinion ID: 781162
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Pleading in the Alternative

Text: 49 Color Tile Committee next argues (for the first time on appeal) that the claims against the Investcorp Group Defendants are irrelevant to the claims against Coopers and thus the former's knowledge and conduct should not be considered when analyzing the legal sufficiency of the claims against Coopers under some form of alternative pleading analysis. In particular, Color Tile Committee relies on our decisions in Adler v. Pataki, 185 F.3d 35 (2d Cir.1999), Henry v. Daytop Village, Inc., 42 F.3d 89 (2d Cir.1994), and MacFarlane v. Grasso, 696 F.2d 217 (2d Cir.1982), for the proposition that allegations that are not explicitly pled as alternative claims should be construed as alternative claims. 50 Because this argument (like the arguments above concerning the applicability of in pari delicto to breach of contract claims) is being raised for the first time on appeal, we decline to consider it. See Baker v. Dorfman, 239 F.3d 415, 420-21 (2d Cir. 2000). Color Tile Committee had the opportunity to raise this argument before the July 31, 1998 dismissal of the First Amended Complaint and before the November 18, 1999 dismissal of the Second Amended Complaint, but chose not to do so. Indeed, in response to the dismissal of the First Amended Complaint, Color Tile Committee chose to pursue an opposite course of action: it pled additional facts to portray the Management Directors as quasi-independent actors who insulated Color Tile from the Investcorp Group Defendants' misfeasance; it persisted in building its case against Coopers with the case against the Investcorp Group Defendants as a foundation. Having elected not to undermine its case against the Investcorp Group Defendants by pleading in the alternative and then having failed to prove the latter's liability on the relevant claims, Color Tile Committee should not be permitted at this late date to proclaim that its unsuccessful allegations against the Investcorp Group Defendants were in the alternative to those against Coopers. Accordingly, we decline to reach this argument under the waiver doctrine articulated above. 14