Court Opinion

ID: 9890966
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-17 00:00:32.627608+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:37:21.367125
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-60204       Document: 00516932791             Page: 1      Date Filed: 10/16/2023

              United States Court of Appeals
                   for the Fifth Circuit
                                    ____________                             United States Court of Appeals
                                                                                      Fifth Circuit

                                     No. 23-60204                                   FILED
                                   Summary Calendar                           October 16, 2023
                                   ____________                                Lyle W. Cayce
                                                                                    Clerk
   Bessie Moore,

                                                                   Plaintiff—Appellant,

                                           versus

   Jackson Public School District,

                                              Defendant—Appellee.
                    ______________________________

                    Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Southern District of Mississippi
                      USDC Nos. 3:18-CV-817, 3:19-CV-883
                    ______________________________

   Before Jones, Southwick, and Ho, Circuit Judges.
   Per Curiam: *
          Bessie Moore appeals the district court’s award of $4,843.50 in court
   costs to Jackson Public School District (JPS), which arose from multiple law-
   suits brought by Moore against her former employer. Moore argues that the
   court costs should not have been awarded because the expenses included fees

          _____________________
          *
              Pursuant to 5th Circuit Rule 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion
   should not be published and is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set
   forth in 5th Circuit Rule 47.5.4.
Case: 23-60204      Document: 00516932791          Page: 2   Date Filed: 10/16/2023

                                    No. 23-60204

   for expediting deposition transcript turnaround time, which Moore charac-
   terizes as optional added services. But Moore did not present this argument
   to the district court in her response to JPS’s motion for costs As such, she
   has forfeited her only argument and the district court’s order is AFFIRMED.
          Moore, a former librarian at JPS, filed three separate lawsuits against
   her former employer. The first two cases were consolidated and dismissed
   on summary judgment by the district court and affirmed on appeal. The third
   was dismissed by the district court pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6) of the Federal
   Rules of Civil Procedure, and affirmed by this court as well. Following the
   grant of summary judgment in the consolidated cases, JPS filed a motion for
   expenses, attorney’s fees, and court costs, requesting over $180,000. Moore
   filed multiple amended responses to JPS’s motion, opposing any award being
   made to JPS on multiple grounds. None of the grounds cited in her operative
   response to JPS’s motion, however, included any mention of expedited
   transcript fees. The district court granted JPS’s motion only as to court
   costs, awarding a total of $4,843.50.
          Because Moore failed to present her only argument on appeal to the
   district court, she has not preserved any error for this court to review. “A
   party forfeits an argument by failing to raise it in the first instance in the
   district court—thus raising it for the first time on appeal.” Rollins v. Home
   Depot USA, 8 F.4th 393, 397 (5th Cir. 2021); see also United States v. Olano,
   507 U.S. 725, 733 (1993) (“[F]orfeiture is the failure to make the timely
   assertion of a right.”).
          The order awarding court costs to the defendant is AFFIRMED.

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