Court Opinion

ID: 9387598
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-04-18 16:02:00.954095+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:14.666980
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 21-12906    Document: 55-4      Date Filed: 04/18/2023    Page: 1 of 48

                                                    [DO NOT PUBLISH]
                                    In the
                 United States Court of Appeals
                         For the Eleventh Circuit

                           ____________________

                                 No. 21-12906
                           ____________________

        SILVER COMET TERMINAL PARTNERS, LLC,
        SILVER COMET PARTNERS, LLC,
                                                     Plaintiffs-Appellants,
        versus
        PAULDING COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY,

                                                     Defendant-Appellee.
                           ____________________

                  Appeal from the United States District Court
                     for the Northern District of Georgia
                    D.C. Docket No. 4:18-cv-00239-WMR
                           ____________________
USCA11 Case: 21-12906         Document: 55-4        Date Filed: 04/18/2023        Page: 2 of 48

        21-12906                  Opinion of the Court                               2

        Before ROSENBAUM, LAGOA, Circuit Judges, and WETHERELL,∗ Dis-
        trict Judge.
        PER CURIAM:
               This appeal concerns the fallout from a failed effort to bring
        commercial passenger service to the Paulding Northwest Atlanta
        Airport (“the Airport”), which is about forty miles northwest of
        Hartfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The plaintiff-ap-
        pellants are two single-purpose entities, Silver Comet Partners,
        LLC and Silver Comet Terminal Partners, LLC (together, “Silver
        Comet”).1 The defendant-appellee is the Paulding County Airport
        Authority, an independent public entity that’s charged with con-
        structing, maintaining, and operating airports, including the Air-
        port.
              In 2012, the Airport Authority and Silver Comet entered two
        contracts. Those contracts reflect the parties’ agreement to partner
        with the goal of developing the Airport. Key to this partnership
        was introducing commercial passenger service to the Airport.
              Although the partnership between Silver Comet and the Air-
        port Authority started well, things spiraled in 2015, when Paulding

        ∗ Honorable T. Kent Wetherell, II, United States District Judge, for the North-
        ern District of Florida, sitting by designation.
        1 The distinction between these entities is irrelevant for our analysis of the
        issues on appeal. So except when we have reason to distinguish between the
        two, we refer to both collectively, using “Silver Comet.”
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        3

        County, which co-sponsored the Airport with the Airport Author-
        ity, elected a new County Board that vehemently opposed bringing
        commercial passenger service to the Airport. After progress on de-
        veloping the Airport reached a standstill, the Airport Authority in-
        voked the termination provisions in both contracts.
               Silver Comet then sued the Airport Authority for breach of
        contract. Along the way, the Airport Authority moved for sum-
        mary judgment. The district court granted that motion in part, and
        then held a bench trial to decide the remaining issues. After the
        bench trial, the district court entered judgment in the Airport Au-
        thority’s favor. On appeal, Silver Comet challenges the district
        court’s order granting summary judgment and its entry of judg-
        ment following the bench trial.
               After a thorough review of the record and with the benefit
        of oral argument, we affirm.
                                  I. Background
                          A. The Parties and the Project
               The Georgia Legislature created the Paulding County Air-
        port Authority in 1972. The Authority’s task “is to acquire, con-
        struct, equip, maintain, improve and operate airports.” Although
        the Airport Authority does not report to the Paulding County
        Board of Commissioners, the County Board and the Airport Au-
        thority contracted to allocate each entity’s responsibilities for the
        Airport. That contract charges the Airport Authority, and not the
        County Board, with managing the Airport. Still, the County Board,
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                         4

        as a co-sponsor of the Airport, “is just as financially responsible for
        the airport as the” Airport Authority.
                Propeller Airports, LLC (“Propeller”), develops, owns, and
        operates airports. The man behind Propeller is Brett Smith. A self-
        described “businessman,” Smith specializes in partnering with pub-
        lic entities to bring commercial passenger service to small, local air-
        ports. Perhaps the brainchild for Smith’s business plan is Gil Mor-
        gan, whose résumé comprises more than forty years of experience
        in the aeronautical industry and includes stints with airlines like
        Delta, AirTran, and World Airways. Together, Morgan and Smith
        created a model that generates profit by building a terminal at a
        smaller airport, introducing commercial passenger service to that
        airport, and surrounding the airport with various types of aeronau-
        tical-related revenue streams. Those revenue streams can include
        anything from concessions to parking, maintenance fees, and even
        defense contracts.
              In 2012, Smith and the Airport Authority started discussing
        an opportunity at the Airport. Those discussions had two compo-
        nents: commercial passenger service and property development.
               To pursue those projects, Smith created two entities, one for
        each project. Those entities are Silver Comet Partners, LLC and
        Silver Comet Terminal Partners, LLC, both of which are subsidiar-
        ies of Propeller. Together, they are the plaintiff-appellants in this
        case.
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        21-12906                 Opinion of the Court                            5

                                  B. The Agreements
              Silver Comet and the Airport Authority entered into two
        agreements pertinent to this appeal: the Lease Option Agreement
        and the Airport Use Agreement.
               The Lease Option Agreement, which became effective on
        October 24, 2012, was between Sliver Comet Partners, LLC, and
        the Airport Authority. Broadly speaking, the Lease Option Agree-
        ment reflected Silver Comet’s agreement to market and develop
        land at the Airport.
               The Airport Use Agreement, which became effective on De-
        cember 1, 2012, was between Silver Comet Terminal Partners,
        LLC and the Airport Authority. Broadly speaking, the Airport Use
        Agreement reflected Silver Comet’s agreement to bring commer-
        cial passenger service to the Airport.
                             i. Lease Option Agreement
               The Lease Option Agreement obliged Silver Comet to use
        “reasonable efforts to market” the option property 2 “for the devel-
        opment of aviation and non-aeronautical related operations . . . .”
        In exchange for marketing the option property, the Lease Option
        Agreement granted Silver Comet “an exclusive right and option to
        ground lease the Option Property, subject to the terms and condi-
        tions” of the Lease Option Agreement. That option would expire

        2 The option property was about 60 acres, divided into three tracts, all of
        which surrounded the Airport’s terminal and runway.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        6

        after fifteen years. This appeal implicates two aspects of the Lease
        Option Agreement: its termination provision and its representa-
        tions and warranties.
                We’ll start with the provision concerning the Airport Au-
        thority’s right to terminate the agreement, which did not ripen un-
        til three years after the agreement’s effective date. From that point
        forward, the contract entitled the Airport Authority to send Silver
        Comet a “marketing notice” if the former “in good faith reasonably
        determine[d] that Silver Comet [was] not using reasonable efforts
        to market the Option Property . . . .” Such a marketing notice
        would convey to Silver Comet that unless it started “to use reason-
        able efforts to . . . market the Option Property within twelve . . .
        months from the date of the Marketing Notice, then at the end of
        such 12-month period the Lease Option shall no longer be valid.”
        But that termination was not self-executing. Rather, “at any time
        after the expiration of the applicable 12-month period,” the Airport
        Authority needed to send Silver Comet a “termination notice”
        once the former “in good faith reasonably determine[d] that Silver
        Comet ha[d] not commenced to use reasonable efforts” to market
        the option property.
               In sum, the Airport Authority could exercise its right to ter-
        minate the Lease Option Agreement only after taking two steps
        (neither of which it could take until three years after the agree-
        ment’s effective date). First, it had to send Silver Comet a “market-
        ing notice” after reasonably and in good faith determining that Sil-
        ver Comet was not using reasonable efforts to market the option
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        7

        property. The marketing notice then triggered a twelve-month
        cure period, during which Silver Comet could cure its deficient
        marketing efforts by employing reasonable efforts to market the
        option property. The second step occurred at the end of that cure
        period. From that point on, the Airport Authority could send Silver
        Comet a “termination notice” after reasonably and in good faith
        determining that Silver Comet had not started to use reasonable
        efforts to market the option property.
               This appeal also implicates the Lease Option Agreement’s
        representations and warranties. Under those provisions, the Air-
        port Authority made eleven “representations and warranties” that
        were “true and correct” on the day of closing and that would be
        “true and correct” on the day that Silver Comet exercised its option
        to ground lease the option property.
                Only two of those representations and warranties are rele-
        vant here. First, the Airport Authority represented and warranted
        that there “are no leases, licenses, or occupancy rights, or any con-
        tracts, option[s] or other agreements of any kind (including pur-
        chase or lease options), affecting the Option Property.” The sec-
        ond “representation and warranty” was more of a promise than it
        was a representation and warranty. In any case, that provision, in
        broad terms, required the Airport Authority to disclose to Silver
        Comet anything that directly or indirectly related to one of the
        other representations or warranties:
              Between the Effective date and the . . . Expiration
              Date . . . [the Airport Authority] shall notify Silver
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        21-12906                   Opinion of the Court                               8

               Comet of any notice, whether written or oral, that re-
               lates directly or indirectly upon any representation or
               warranty hereunder, which notice shall be delivered
               to Silver Comet immediately after receipt of such no-
               tice but in no event later than the date that Silver
               Comet exercises the Lease Option.
        In sum, then, the Airport Authority promised to “notify Silver
        Comet” about future “agreements of any kind” that might affect
        the option property.
                               ii. Airport Use Agreement
                Under the Airport Use Agreement, the Airport Authority
        leased to Silver Comet 700 square feet of office space in the termi-
        nal building. The lease was for twenty years. During that lease
        period, the Airport Use Agreement also granted Silver Comet cer-
        tain rights.
               This appeal implicates three of those rights. First, the Air-
        port Use Agreement granted Silver Comet an exclusive right to ex-
        pand its lease to include the entire terminal building or any part of
        it. Second, the Airport Use Agreement entitled Silver Comet to
        “require the [Airport Authority] to apply for [a] Part 139 Airport
        Operating Certification[ 3] . . . with the Federal Aviation Administra-
        tion for the Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport.” Third, the

        3 A Part 139 certification enables an airport to offer commercial passenger ser-
        vice. See 14 CFR § 139, et seq.
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                         9

        Airport Use Agreement required the Airport Authority to “indem-
        nify and hold Tenant harmless from and against any and all claims,
        actions, damages, liability, and expense in connection with the [Air-
        port Authority’s] application for Certification hereunder.” The Air-
        port Use Agreement defined “Tenant” as Silver Comet.
               This appeal also implicates the Airport Use Agreement’s ter-
        mination provision. Under that provision, the Airport Authority
        could terminate the lease five years after its effective date unless at
        least one of two conditions were satisfied. First, the Airport Au-
        thority could not terminate the lease if Silver Comet exercised its
        option to occupy “the entire Terminal Building.” Second, the Air-
        port Authority could not terminate the lease if there was “commer-
        cial passenger service at the Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport.”
        If neither of those conditions were satisfied, then the Airport Au-
        thority could terminate its lease by giving “one hundred twenty
        (120) days advance written notice” to Silver Comet.
             C. Implementation and Termination of the Agreements
               From the time the Lease Option Agreement and Airport Use
        Agreement took effect until 2015, Silver Comet marketed the op-
        tion property. Silver Comet attended “various trade shows, includ-
        ing the 2014 National Business Aviation Association Conference,”
        where it promoted the option property.
               But resistance to the project eventually snowballed, with the
        Airport Authority being named as a defendant in at least eight law-
        suits. A group of taxpayers, who became known as the “Paulding
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                       10

        Six” filed several lawsuits challenging the Airport Authority’s ef-
        forts to bring commercial passenger service to the Airport. The
        City of Atlanta also sued.
                Political pressure also began to build. Although the County
        Board once favored bringing commercial passenger service to the
        Airport, that changed after a 2014 election ushered in a new major-
        ity. On January 13, 2015, the newly elected County Board, as its
        first official act, passed Resolution 15-01. That resolution withdrew
        the County’s application for a Part 139 Certification, dashing any
        hopes for bringing commercial passenger service to the Airport:
              NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved by the Paulding
              County Board of Commissioners as an Airport spon-
              sor that the application to the FAA for a Part 139 Cer-
              tificate is hereby withdrawn and any associated envi-
              ronmental review is hereby terminated. Accordingly,
              the Board of Commissioners hereby directs the Clerk
              to transmit immediately this Resolution to the FAA.
        Eleven months later, the County sued the Airport Authority in
        state court, seeking to enjoin the Authority from obtaining a Part
        139 Certification. The County also sought “a declaration determin-
        ing that the Airport Authority did not have the power to pursue a
        Part 139 application given the County’s new opposition to it.” Sil-
        ver Comet intervened in that litigation with the Airport Author-
        ity’s consent.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        11

               Enter Mark Reichin, Chief Operating Officer of Propeller.
        Reichin had been involved with Silver Comet’s projects in Paulding
        County since 2012. He and Smith assumed primary responsibility
        for Silver Comet’s efforts to market the option property. At the
        start of his involvement, Reichin commuted “back and forth be-
        tween New York and Atlanta as necessary” to attend meetings and
        the like. But he eventually moved to Georgia in “early 2015,”
        meaning that he moved right when the County made its about face
        on introducing commercial passenger service to the Airport.
               As Reichin saw things, the County’s actions from 2015 on
        effectively created a “blockade” on Silver Comet’s ability to do an-
        ything at the Airport. Not only that, but Reichin also thought that
        it was “going to be hard” to market the option property until all
        the lawsuits against the Airport Authority were “resolved.”
               Adding to those difficulties was the end of then-Director of
        the Airport Authority Blake Swafford’s tenure, which occurred in
        April 2016. That made Reichin’s job even harder because he and
        Swafford spoke regularly about marketing. The two also often dis-
        cussed the Airport’s pending environmental assessment, which
        was essential for the Airport to obtain a Part 139 certification. “And
        being there on the site with Blake Swafford to try to work through
        the environmental assessment,” said Reichin, “it was more efficient
        being there all the time.”
              Terry Tibbitts replaced Swafford as the director of the Air-
        port Authority. Tibbitts, according to Reichin, “wanted to sort of
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                       12

        be hands off.” Still, Tibbitts kept updating Smith about the Airport
        Authority’s progress on obtaining a Part 139 certification.
               Four months after Swafford’s tenure with the Airport Au-
        thority ended, Propeller moved Reichin to Everett, Washington,
        to help develop a different project. That project was very success-
        ful.
               Reichin maintains that he did not abandon the Airport pro-
        ject after leaving Georgia. But his actions tell a different story.
        While he attended several trade shows in 2015, Reichin attended
        none in 2017 or 2018. Although he traded emails with prospective
        companies in 2015, he sent none to prospective companies in 2017
        or 2018. And then there’s the website that Silver Comet created.
        Reichin concedes that the website hasn’t been updated since it was
        created in 2014. Also, while Reichin met with real-estate brokers
        between 2013 and 2014, he met with none after he moved to Seat-
        tle. In fact, the website even had a feature that allowed real-estate
        brokers to contact Silver Comet—but the one broker who used
        that feature never received a response.
               About five months after Reichin left Georgia, the Airport
        Authority sent a marketing notice to Silver Comet, thus triggering
        Silver Comet’s twelve-month period to “commence to use reason-
        able efforts” to market the Airport. Although Silver Comet re-
        sponded, its response did not dispute that it had quit marketing the
        Airport.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                      13

               One year after the Airport Authority sent Silver Comet the
        marketing notice, the Airport Authority invited Silver Comet to at-
        tend a meeting. That meeting occurred on December 20, 2017.
              Silver Comet sent Morgan to that meeting. The minutes
        from that meeting suggest only that the Airport Authority gave Sil-
        ver Comet thirty more days “to document marketing efforts.”
        Morgan recalled that Silver Comet was “specifically asked to docu-
        ment the marketing expenses up to that time.”
               Morgan and Tibbitts then met twice for lunch, first in late
        December 2017 and again in early January 2018. Morgan brought
        with him to those meetings a three-page PowerPoint presentation.
        That presentation documented Silver Comet’s obligations under
        the Lease Option Agreement, the expenses Silver Comet incurred
        while fulfilling those obligations, and the results (and the excuses
        for the lack of results) that Silver Comet produced. After making
        his case, Morgan asked Tibbitts if he wanted a copy of the Power-
        Point. But Tibbitts told Morgan to “hold onto it for now.”
               When Tibbitts reported to the Airport Authority’s board,
        the board asked him if he had received from Morgan any evidence
        that Silver Comet had commenced marketing. “No,” he said. “I
        never got anything.”
               By June 2018, the Airport Authority had decided to termi-
        nate the Lease Option Agreement because it still hadn’t received
        anything “to satisfy” its concerns about Silver Comet’s marketing
        efforts. The Airport Authority then took marketing into its own
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                        14

        hands. The month after the Authority decided to terminate the
        Lease Option Agreement, David Carmichael, who sat on the Air-
        port Authority’s Board, became involved in discussions to lease air-
        port property to an aviation academy. Tibbitts learned about those
        discussions by August 2018. But nobody spoke with Smith about
        those discussions. When asked why nobody spoke with Smith
        about the aviation academy, Carmichael said, “I probably should
        have done that.”
               In any case, the Airport Authority finalized its decision to
        terminate the Lease Option Agreement the next month. On Sep-
        tember 13, 2018, the Airport Authority sent Silver Comet a termi-
        nation notice, effectively terminating the Lease Agreement. Tib-
        bitts met with Georgia officials about the aviation academy less
        than two weeks later. The Airport Authority finally notified Silver
        Comet about its discussions with the aviation academy on October
        11, 2018, the day before then-Governor Nathan Deal made a public
        announcement about the project.
               The summer of 2018 also proved important for Silver
        Comet’s expansion rights under the Airport Use Agreement. As
        we’ve mentioned, the Airport Use Agreement granted Silver
        Comet the right to expand its lease of part of the terminal building
        to include the entire terminal building or any other part of it. Silver
        Comet sent the Airport Authority a letter at the end of June, noti-
        fying the Authority of Silver Comet’s “intent to exercise” its expan-
        sion rights under the Airport Use Agreement by expanding its lease
        to the entire terminal building.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                       15

                 The Airport Authority responded to Silver Comet’s notice
        of intent one month later. Relying on the terms of the Airport Use
        Agreement, the Airport Authority’s response explained how it
        reached its calculation that “the total monthly lease rate [would be]
        $19,904.40.” The Airport Authority asked Silver Comet to forward
        its first month’s payment on or before September 1, 2018, so that
        the Airport Authority would “have sufficient time to vacate the en-
        tire building.”
                Silver Comet replied on September 5, 2018, asking the Air-
        port Authority to “amend the Lease to reflect . . . Silver Comet’s
        exercise of its expansion option to lease the Terminal Building.” In
        that reply, Silver Comet asked the Airport Authority to prepare a
        draft lease.
               The Airport Authority complied and provided Silver Comet
        with a draft lease less than two weeks later. But Silver Comet asked
        the Airport Authority to change that lease in two ways. First, it
        wanted the Airport Authority to push the effective date back to De-
        cember 1, 2018. Second, it wanted the Airport Authority to reduce
        the price to $1 per square foot. The Airport Authority agreed to
        both requests and supplied Silver Comet with an updated lease.
               But even then, Silver Comet was not ready to conclude the
        lease expansion. Instead, it sent a letter asking that “the effective
        date of December 1, 2018 be placed on hold pending the outcome
        of” this lawsuit. This time, the Airport Authority rejected Silver
        Comet’s request and told it that the Airport Authority would as-
        sume it did not intend to lease the terminal building unless the
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        21-12906              Opinion of the Court                      16

        Airport Authority received “an executed lease and payment” be-
        fore December 1, 2018. Silver Comet never sent the Airport Au-
        thority an executed lease or payment. The Airport Authority then
        terminated the Airport Use Agreement on December 7, 2018.
                                   B. Lawsuit
               After the Airport Authority terminated the Airport Use
        Agreement, Silver Comet filed suit against the Airport Authority in
        the Northern District of Georgia. Silver Comet’s operative com-
        plaint raised three claims that are relevant to this appeal.
               The first two claims allege that the Airport Authority
        breached the Lease Option Agreement. The first of those allega-
        tions states that the Airport Authority breached the Lease Option
        Agreement “by sending its Termination Notice without reasonably
        determining in good faith that Silver Comet ha[d] not commenced
        to use reasonable efforts to market the Option Property.” Silver
        Comet also alleged that the Airport Authority breached the Lease
        Option Agreement by failing to disclose to Silver Comet that the
        Authority had reached an agreement with the Governor to locate
        an aviation academy at the Airport.
               The third claim alleged that the Airport Authority breached
        the Airport Use Agreement. Silver Comet asserted that the Airport
        Authority did so by declining to indemnify Silver Comet for ex-
        penses it incurred when applying for the Part 139 certification. In
        the same count, Silver Comet sought a declaration of its rights un-
        der the Airport Use Agreement.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        17

                            i. Summary Judgment Rulings
               The parties eventually filed cross-motions for summary
        judgment. The district court denied Silver Comet’s motion in full
        and granted the Airport Authority’s motion in part. The district
        court’s ruling on the Airport Authority’s motion prompts two is-
        sues on appeal.
                First, Silver Comet contends that the district court erred by
        granting summary judgment on its claim relating to the Airport
        Authority’s discussions about bringing an aviation academy to the
        Airport. As a reminder, one of the Lease Option Agreement’s rep-
        resentations and warranties provided in part that there “are no . . .
        agreements of any kind . . . affecting the Option Property.” A sec-
        ond warranty required the Airport Authority to immediately “no-
        tify Silver Comet of any notice, whether oral or written, that relates
        directly or indirectly” to any other representation or warranty.
               The district court determined that the Airport Authority did
        not breach the Lease Option Agreement’s representation-and-war-
        ranties provisions, despite failing to contemporaneously disclose to
        Silver Comet its discussions regarding the aviation academy. In so
        holding, the district court explained that the relevant warranty ap-
        plied to only those agreements or contracts that could have encum-
        bered the option property. Because the Airport Authority’s discus-
        sions with the aviation academy were not “formal agreements,”
        the district court held that the Airport Authority did not breach the
        representation or warranty provision by failing to disclose the dis-
        cussions.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        18

               Second, Silver Comet contends that the district court erred
        by granting summary judgment on its claim that the Airport Au-
        thority failed to indemnify Silver Comet for expenses connected to
        the Part 139 certification application. As a reminder, the Airport
        Use Agreement required the Airport Authority to “indemnify and
        hold [Silver Comet] harmless from and against any and all claims,
        actions, damages, liability, and expense in connection with the [Air-
        port Authority’s] application for” a Part 139 certification.
                The district court granted summary judgment on that claim
        for three reasons, all of which are different formulations of the con-
        clusion that the indemnification provision did not cover Silver
        Comet’s claimed expenses. First, the district court held that the
        indemnification provision covered only those expenses incurred by
        Silver Comet—not those incurred by Silver Comet’s parent com-
        pany, Propeller. Second, the district court held that the indemnifi-
        cation provision did not cover expenses Silver Comet incurred
        when expanding the airport’s taxiway. Those expenses, the district
        court explained, fell under an exception to the indemnification pro-
        vision, which applied to improvement payments. Finally, the court
        concluded, “the indemnification provision d[id] not include the
        phrase ‘attorney’s fees,’ so [Silver Comet] [wa]s unable to recover
        its fees as such.”
                The district court’s order partially granting summary judg-
        ment left two issues to be decided during a bench trial. First, the
        district court found that a genuine issue of material fact existed as
        to whether the Airport Authority could terminate the Lease
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        19

        Option Agreement. Specifically, the court identified a genuine is-
        sue of fact as to whether the Airport Authority reasonably and in
        good faith determined that Silver Comet had not commenced us-
        ing reasonable efforts to market the option property after receiving
        a marketing notice from the Airport Authority. Second, the district
        court later clarified that its order partially granting summary judg-
        ment did not address whether the Airport Authority could “termi-
        nate the Airport Use Agreement according to its terms.” The court
        resolved those two issues after a four-day bench trial.
                                ii. Bench Trial Rulings
                The first issue at trial was whether the Airport Authority
        could terminate the Lease Option Agreement. As the district court
        explained, whether the Airport Authority could terminate the
        Lease Agreement turns on two subsidiary issues: “(1) whether the
        Airport Authority’s decision to terminate was executed in good
        faith, and (2) whether it was reasonable for the Airport Authority
        to determine that [Silver Comet] was not using reasonable efforts
        to market the property.”
               The district court concluded that the Airport Authority ter-
        minated the Lease Option Agreement in good faith for two rea-
        sons. First, it found that the Airport Authority decided to terminate
        the Lease Option Agreement in June 2018. So even though the
        Authority started discussing an opportunity with the aviation acad-
        emy in July 2018, that fact did not reflect bad faith. In the district
        court’s telling, “the record contradicts any suggestion that the Air-
        port Authority terminated the option in bad faith (or that it didn’t
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                        20

        act in good faith) because it allegedly knew of the opportunity with
        the Aviation School and wanted to pursue it instead. Second, the
        district court concluded that “the fact that [Director] Tibbitts did
        not turn over to the Airport Authority’s Board the PowerPoint cre-
        ated by Brett Smith with a list of expenses that Propeller has made
        does not constitute bad faith or indicate a lack of good faith.”
        Those expenses, reasoned the district court, lack any “details of spe-
        cific, recent marketing efforts, despite [Silver Comet’s] having been
        on notice that their marketing efforts were lacking.”
                 The district court also found that it was reasonable for the
        Airport Authority to terminate the Lease Option Agreement. The
        district court acknowledged that there was no dispute that Silver
        Comet “marketed the property extensively” before receiving the
        marketing notice. It also recognized the difficult task Silver Comet
        faced in marketing the property, given all the pending litigation.
        Still, the district court explained that “there is a difference between
        successful marketing efforts and simply engaging in reasonable
        marketing efforts.” Finding that Silver Comet failed to do the lat-
        ter, the district court concluded that it was reasonable for the Air-
        port Authority to terminate the Lease Option Agreement.
               The second issue at trial was whether the Airport Authority
        could terminate the Airport Use Agreement. As the district court
        explained, “the Airport Authority had a contractual right to termi-
        nate the [Airport] Agreement if two conditions were met: (1) there
        was no commercial passenger service at the airport, and (2) [Silver
        Comet] had not exercised its option to lease the entire terminal
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                        21

        building.” And, the district court continued, there was no dispute
        “that commercial passenger service was not instituted” at the Air-
        port. “Thus, the only question for the Court [wa]s whether [Silver
        Comet] in fact exercised its option to lease the [terminal] building.”
               The district court concluded it did not. To reach that con-
        clusion, the district court cited two facts. First, Silver Comet’s let-
        ter in June 2018 expressed only its “intent to exercise its right to
        expand.” (Emphasis added). Second, in its final email to the Airport
        Authority before the Airport Authority terminated the Airport Use
        Agreement, Silver Comet asked the Airport Authority to put the
        lease’s effective date on hold. As a result, the district court con-
        cluded that the Airport Authority had not exercised its option to
        lease the terminal building, so the Authority enjoyed the right to
        terminate the Airport Use Agreement.
                                     II. Analysis
                                   A. Jurisdiction
               We carried two jurisdictional questions with this case. We
        turn to them now and explain why we have jurisdiction.
                                       i. Count 5
               First, we must consider “whether Count 5 of the amended
        complaint has been resolved.” In Count 5 of its amended com-
        plaint, Silver Comet alleged that the Airport Authority violated
        Georgia’s Open Records Act. After a hearing, the district court cre-
        ated a paperless docket entry, which indicates that the parties told
        the district that they intended to file a stipulation to dismiss Count
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        22

        5 of Silver Comet’s amended complaint. But as it turns out, the
        parties never filed any stipulation. Still, though, they did submit a
        proposed pretrial order, which stated “that it supersedes the plead-
        ings which are hereby amended to conform” to the proposed pre-
        trial order. That proposed pretrial order contained both parties’
        signatures, omitted any reference to Count 5 of Silver Comet’s
        amended complaint, and generally reflected the parties’ under-
        standing that the looming bench trial would not concern Count 5.
        Although the district court never adopted that proposed pretrial
        order, it did confirm that it had “read the pretrial order.” The ques-
        tion, then, is whether the parties’ proposed pretrial order sufficed
        to resolve Count 5 of Silver Comet’s amended complaint. We con-
        clude that it did.
               To begin with, we have jurisdiction over this appeal only if
        the district court entered a final order. 28 U.S.C. § 1291. “A final
        decision is ‘one which ends the litigation on the merits and leaves
        nothing for the court to do but execute the judgment.’” CSX
        Transp., Inc. v. Garden City, 235 F.3d 1325, 1327 (11th Cir. 2000)
        (quoting Pitney Bowes, Inc. v. Mestre, 701 F.2d 1365, 1368 (11th
        Cir. 1983)). When considering whether an order is final, “we take
        a ‘functional approach, looking not to the form of the district
        court’s order, but to its actual effect.’” Thomas v. Blue Cross &
        Blue Shield Ass’n, 594 F.3d 823, 829 (11th Cir. 2010) (quoting Bir-
        mingham Fire Fighters Ass’n 117 v. Jefferson County, 280 F.3d
        1289, 1293 (11th Cir. 2002)).
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        21-12906                  Opinion of the Court                              23

                The parties’ failure to file a stipulation of dismissal for Count
        5 is irrelevant to our analysis of this jurisdictional question. Even
        if the parties had filed a stipulation to dismiss Count 5 of Silver
        Comet’s amended complaint, that filing would not have resolved
        the claim. A party (like Silver Comet) that wishes to dismiss a claim
        (rather than an entire action) must do so by amending the com-
        plaint under Rule 15(a) rather than by filing a stipulation of dismis-
        sal under Rule 41. See Campbell v. Altec Indus., Inc., 605 F.3d 839,
        841 n.1 (11th Cir. 2010) (quoting Klay v. United Healthgroup, Inc.,
        376 F.3d 1092, 1106 (11th Cir. 2004)).
               On that score, Silver Comet effectively amended its com-
        plaint to drop Count 5. Under Rule 15(a), “a party may amend its
        pleading only with the opposing party’s written consent or the
        court’s leave.” FED. R. CIV. P. 15(a)(2). 4 Here, Silver Comet ob-
        tained the Airport Authority’s consent to drop Count 5 when both
        parties signed the proposed pretrial order, which reflected their
        shared understanding that that the looming bench trial would not
        concern Count 5. Cf. Olmstead v. Taco Bell Corp., 141 F.3d 1457,
        1461–62 (11th Cir. 1998) (affirming the district court’s ruling that a
        plaintiff abandoned its claim under 42 U.S.C. 1981(a) when “the

        4 A party may also amend its pleadings once as a matter of course within 21
        days of serving it, unless the pleading requires a response, in which case the
        party may amend as a matter of course 21 days after service of the responsive
        pleading or “21 days after service of a motion under Rule 12(b), (e), or (f),
        whichever is earlier.” FED. R. CIV. P. 15(a)(1). However, that provision is not
        implicated here.
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        21-12906                   Opinion of the Court                              24

        pretrial stipulation [did] not reference § 1981(a) at any point.”).
        That proposed pretrial order also provided “that it supersedes the
        pleadings which are hereby amended to conform” to the proposed
        pretrial order. See State Treasurer of State of Michigan v. Barry,
        168 F.3d 8, 9–10 (11th Cir. 1999) (“Because a pretrial order super-
        sedes the pleadings, the pretrial order had the effect of eliminating
        the remaining [c]ounts … in Plaintiff’s complaint.”).
                 That amendment, coupled with the parties’ statement to the
        district court that they intended to dismiss Count 5 of the com-
        plaint, operated as the functional equivalent of a dismissal of Count
        5. 5 Indeed, we said as much in Campbell, where we held that a
        district court’s order granting a Rule 51(a) motion, “coupled with
        the” plaintiff’s “announcement on the record” that it would aban-
        don that claim, “operated as the functional equivalent of a dismissal
        . . . turning the district court’s summary judgment order into a final
        judgment.” 605 F.3d at 841 n.1. In the same way, the parties’ an-
        nouncement to the district court that they intended to dismiss
        Count 5, coupled with their proposed pretrial order, which effec-
        tively amended the complaint to eliminate Count 5, suffices to es-
        tablish that Count 5 has been resolved.

        5 The district court entered a final judgment after the bench trial. Whether
        the parties’ dismissal was with or without prejudice is therefore irrelevant for
        finality purposes. See Schoenfeld v. Babbitt, 168 F.3d 1257, 1265–66 (11th Cir.
        1999) (holding that there was a final judgment when the plaintiff dismissed its
        claim “without prejudice before the district court entered the order granting
        summary judgment and entered a final judgment.”).
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        25

                                       ii. Count 4
               The second jurisdictional question we carried with this case
        is “whether the stipulation of dismissal of Count 4 was effective,
        given that the parties purported to dismiss a single claim instead of
        the entire action.” Unlike their handling of Count 5, the parties did
        file a joint stipulation dismissing Count 4 of Silver Comet’s
        amended complaint. When the district court subsequently entered
        its order granting partial summary judgement, it acknowledged the
        parties’ joint stipulation of dismissal for Count 4 and added, “If the
        record otherwise does not contain a document of dismissal, the
        Court herein dismisses [Count 4] without prejudice.”
                Even though the parties’ Rule 41(a) motions and stipulation
        did not effectively dismiss Count 4, the district court cured that de-
        fect. It’s true that litigants cannot use Rule 41 to dismiss a single
        claim. See Campbell, 605 F.3d at 841 n.1. But the district court
        dismissed Count 4 in any case, so whether the stipulation of dismis-
        sal of Count 4 was effective is beside the point. Because the district
        court dismissed Count 4 without prejudice before entering its final
        judgment, Count 4 has been resolved. See Schoenfeld, 168 F.3d at
        1265–66.
              Having assured ourselves that we have jurisdiction over this
        appeal, we will now turn to the merits of the issues raised by Silver
        Comet.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                       26

                                     B. Merits
                Summary judgment is proper only when “there is no genu-
        ine dispute as to any material fact” and the prevailing party “is en-
        titled to judgment as a matter of law.” FED. R. CIV. P. 56(a). When
        passing upon a motion for summary judgment, a district court
        must take the facts in the light most favorable to the nonmoving
        party, drawing all reasonable inferences therefrom in that party’s
        favor. E.g., Westchester Gen. Hosp. v. Evanston Ins. Co., 48 F.4th
        1298, 1301–02 (11th Cir. 2022) (citation omitted). We must do the
        same because we review de novo a district court’s order granting
        summary judgment. Id.
                On appeal from a judgment after a bench trial, we review
        the district court’s conclusions of law, including its application of
        the law to the facts, de novo, while evaluating its finding of facts
        under the clear-error standard. U.S. Commodity Futures Trading
        Comm’n v. S. Tr. Metals, Inc., 894 F.3d 1313, 1322 (11th Cir. 2018)
        (citations omitted).
               Silver Comet argues that the district court erred in four
        ways. First, Silver Comet asserts that the district court erred by
        finding, after a bench trial, that the Airport Authority could termi-
        nate the Lease Option Agreement. Second, Silver Comet contends
        that the district court erred by granting summary judgment on Sil-
        ver Comet’s claim that the Airport Authority breached the Lease
        Option Agreement’s representations-and-warranties provisions.
        Third, Silver Comet argues that the district court erred by granting
        summary judgment on Silver Comet’s claim that the Airport
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        27

        Authority breached the Airport Use Agreement’s indemnification
        provision. Finally, Silver Comet argues that the district court erred
        by finding, after a bench trial, that Silver Comet never exercised its
        expansion rights under the Airport Use Agreement and, as a result,
        that the Airport Authority could terminate the Airport Use Agree-
        ment.
               After addressing and rejecting each argument in turn, we af-
        firm the district court’s order granting partial summary judgment
        in the Airport Authority’s favor and its entry of judgment after the
        bench trial.
                     i. Termination of Lease Option Agreement
               We start with Silver Comet’s argument that the district
        court clearly erred by finding, after a bench trial, that the Airport
        Authority could terminate the Lease Option Agreement. The Air-
        port Authority could terminate the Lease Option Agreement if it
        in good faith and reasonably determined that Silver Comet had
        “not commenced to use reasonable efforts” to market the option
        property after receiving the marketing notice.
                The district court concluded both that (1) the Airport Au-
        thority decided to terminate the Lease Option Agreement in good
        faith; and (2) the Airport Authority reasonably determined that Sil-
        ver Comet had not commenced using reasonable efforts to market
        the option property after receiving the marketing notice. Alleging
        error, Silver Comet cites Tibbitt’s failure to transmit Silver Comet’s
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                      28

        three-page PowerPoint presentation to the rest of the Airport Au-
        thority’s Board.
                Silver Comet’s two-paragraph argument misses the mark
        because the PowerPoint presentation contained information that
        the Airport Authority already knew. The three-page PowerPoint
        presentation documented all Silver Comet’s marketing efforts
        since 2012. Yet Tibbitts “was briefed very thoroughly on every-
        thing that happened basically since 2012.” The problem, he ex-
        plained, was that the Airport Authority “felt there was no market-
        ing taking place” after 2016. And the PowerPoint presentation
        failed to address that concern. So even if Tibbitts had transmitted
        that PowerPoint to the rest of the Airport Authority’s Board, its
        content would not be helpful for determining whether Silver
        Comet had commenced using reasonable efforts to market the op-
        tion property after receiving the marketing notice in December
        2016.
               For that reason, Tibbitts’s failure to transmit the Power-
        Point presentation to the rest of the Airport Authority’s Board does
        not evince a lack of good faith. Under Georgia law, good faith re-
        quires, among other things, “further investigation” when the
        “known circumstances” so require. Riggins v. Deutsche Bank Nat’l
        Tr. Co., 708 S.E.2d 266, 269 (Ga. 2011) (quoting Anderson v. Little
        & Davenport Funeral Home, Inc., 251 S.E.2d 250, 252 (Ga. 1978));
        see also Drs. Hosp. of Augusta, LLC v. Alicea, 788 S.E.2d 392, 403
        (Ga. 2016) (citation omitted). Because the Airport Authority’s
        Board already knew the facts conveyed by the PowerPoint
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                       29

        presentation, there was no need for the Airport Authority’s Board
        to further investigate that PowerPoint presentation.
               Putting the PowerPoint presentation aside, the record more
        than supports the district court’s conclusion that the Airport Au-
        thority reasonably and in good faith determined that Silver Comet
        did not start marketing the option property after receiving the mar-
        keting notice and that it terminated the Lease Option Agreement.
        Indeed, after receiving the marketing notice, Silver Comet wrote
        the Airport Authority a letter and acknowledged that it had
        stopped marketing the property.
                And Silver Comet’s actions support the conclusion that it
        had ceased marketing the option property by 2016. Reichin testi-
        fied that while he attended several trade shows in 2015, he attended
        none in 2017 or 2018. In the same vein, Reichin testified that
        though he traded emails with prospective companies in 2015, he
        failed to email prospective companies in 2017 or 2018. Reichin also
        admitted that, in his view, Paulding County’s actions from 2015 on
        effectively created a “blockade” on Silver Comet’s ability to do an-
        ything at the Airport. And the Airport Authority, according to Tib-
        bitts, got the message loud and clear: “They [the Airport Author-
        ity] had become concerned that because of the situation that was
        in Paulding County at that time, that the marketing had ceased.”
                In short, Silver Comet’s argument fails to show that the dis-
        trict court clearly erred by finding that the Airport Authority rea-
        sonably and in good faith terminated the Lease Option Agreement.
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        30

                 ii. Breach of Warranties in Lease Option Agreement
               Our conclusion that the district court did not clearly err by
        finding that the Airport Authority could terminate the Lease Op-
        tion Agreement forecloses Silver Comet’s second argument related
        to the Lease Option Agreement. Here, Silver Comet contends that
        the district court erred by granting summary judgment on its claim
        that the Airport Authority breached the Lease Option Agreement’s
        representations-and-warranties provisions.
                That claim turns on two of the representations and warran-
        ties. First, the Airport Authority represented and warranted that
        there were “no leases, licenses, or occupancy rights, or any con-
        tracts, option or other agreements of any kind (including any pur-
        chase or lease options), affecting the Option Property.” Second,
        the Airport Authority promised to “notify Silver Comet” about any
        “notice” that it received, which “relates directly or indirectly” to
        any of the representations and warranties. The Airport Use Agree-
        ment required the Airport Authority to deliver such notice no
        “later than the date that Silver Comet exercises the Lease Option.”
               Silver Comet reads those provisions broadly. In its view,
        those provisions saddled the Airport Authority with “a continuing
        duty to notify Silver Comet of any agreement of any kind, includ-
        ing an informal agreement.” On that basis, Silver Comet argues
        that the Airport Authority breached the representations-and-war-
        ranties provisions by failing to disclose its “agreements” (1) to meet
        with Georgia officials in September 2018 to discuss the location of
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        21-12906              Opinion of the Court                      31

        a proposed aviation academy and (2) to obtain an environmental
        assessment on the proposed location.
               The district court rejected Silver Comet’s interpretation,
        concluding that the representations-and-warranties provisions did
        not require the Airport Authority to disclose informal agreements
        such as “discussions or negotiations involving the option prop-
        erty.” As a result, the district court granted summary judgment on
        Silver Comet’s claim that the Airport Authority breached the Lease
        Option Agreement’s representations-and-warranties provisions.
        Silver Comet now argues that the district court’s interpretation
        was erroneous.
               But even granting Silver Comet’s broad reading of the rep-
        resentations-and-warranties provisions, Silver Comet’s claim that
        the Airport Authority breached those provisions still fails. That’s
        so because Silver Comet claims that the Airport Authority
        breached those provisions by entering two agreements after the
        Airport Authority already terminated the Lease Option Agree-
        ment. First, the Airport Authority met with Georgia officials on
        September 26, almost two weeks after terminating the Lease Op-
        tion Agreement. Second, the Airport Authority’s agreement to ob-
        tain an environmental assessment occurred just days after the Air-
        port Authority’s September 26 meeting with Georgia officials. But
        a party cannot breach an agreement after the agreement has al-
        ready been terminated. So even if the district court misinterpreted
        the representation-and-warranties provisions, it does not follow
        that the Airport Authority breached those provisions.
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                         32

               Yet, Silver Comet argues that because it timely disputed the
        Airport Authority’s notice of termination pursuant to the terms of
        the Lease Option Agreement, the Airport Authority’s obligations
        under the representations and warranties survived until a court de-
        termined that the September 13 termination notice was valid. We
        reject the implication that the contract allowed Silver Comet to
        unilaterally extend the Airport Authority’s obligations past a valid
        termination merely by filing an ultimately meritless dispute. Such
        a reading would dramatically undermine the utility of the early ter-
        mination provision, and Georgia law requires contract interpreta-
        tion “to give the greatest effect possible to all provisions rather than
        to leave any part of the contract unreasonable or having no effect.”
        Vaughn, Coltrane & Assocs. V. Van horn Const., Inc., 563 S.E.2d
        548, 550 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002) (quoting Sofran Peachtree City v.
        Peachtree City Holdings, 550 S.E.2d 429, 431 (Ga. Ct. App. 2001)).
               We therefore affirm the district court’s entry of judgment
        on Silver Comet’s claim that the Airport Authority breached the
        Lease Option Agreement’s representations-and-warranties provi-
        sions.
                iii. Indemnification Under the Airport Use Agreement
               Silver Comet’s third argument stems from its claim that the
        Airport Authority breached the Airport Use Agreement by refusing
        to indemnify Silver Comet for expenses it incurred when applying
        for the Part 139 certification. The Airport Use Agreement required
        the Airport Authority to apply for a Part 139 certification with the
        FAA. The Airport Use Agreement also required the Airport
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                      33

        Authority to “use its best efforts to obtain such Certification, in-
        cluding without limitation, making all financially feasible improve-
        ments . . . necessary to obtain such Certification . . . .” The same
        provision then required the Airport Authority to “indemnify and
        hold Tenant [i.e., Silver Comet] harmless from and against any and
        all claims, actions, damages, liability and expense in connection
        with the [Airport Authority’s] application for Certification hereun-
        der.”
                The district court granted summary judgment on this claim
        after concluding that the Airport Use Agreement’s indemnity pro-
        vision did not cover the expenses for which Silver Comet sought
        indemnification. The district court offered three reasons to sup-
        port that conclusion. First, the district court held that the indem-
        nification provision covers only those expenses paid for by Silver
        Comet. And there is no dispute that Silver Comet’s parent com-
        pany, Propeller, paid for all the expenses for which Silver Comet
        now seeks indemnification.
               Second, the district court held that even if the Airport Use
        Agreement requires the Airport Authority to indemnify Silver
        Comet against those expenses paid for by Propeller, the indemnity
        provision does not cover expenses Silver Comet incurred when ex-
        panding the airport’s taxiway. Those expenses, the district court
        explained, fall under an exception to the indemnification provision
        that applies to improvement payments.
             Finally, the district court held that even if the Airport Use
        Agreement requires the Airport Authority to indemnify Silver
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        34

        Comet against those expenses paid for by Propeller, “the indemni-
        fication provision does not include the phrase ‘attorney’s fees,’ so
        [Silver Comet] is unable to recover its fees as such.”
               We agree with the district court that the indemnity provi-
        sion covers only those expenses paid for by Silver Comet, not those
        paid for by its parent company, Propeller. That obviates the need
        for us to address the other two issues. Still, though, we also agree
        with the district court’s alternative holdings that, in any case, the
        indemnity provision does not cover Silver Comet’s legal fees or
        moneys spent in connection with the taxiway project. We there-
        fore affirm the district court’s order granting summary judgment.
                          a. Expenses Paid by Propeller.
               The district court concluded that the Airport Use Agree-
        ment’s indemnity provision did not require the Airport Authority
        to indemnify Silver Comet against expenses paid for by its parent
        company, Propeller. That provision, explained the district court,
        “does not require indemnification for expenses incurred by anyone
        other than ‘Tenant.’” “And,” the district court continued, “the
        ‘Tenant’ is [Silver Comet] and [Silver Comet] only.” We agree.
               The indemnity provision in the Airport Use Agreement pro-
        vides that the Airport Authority “shall indemnify and hold Tenant
        harmless from and against any and all … expense[s]” in connection
        with the Airport Authority’s application for a Part 139 certification.
        And the first line of the Agreement defines Tenant as “Silver Comet
        Terminal Partners, LLC,” not Propeller. If the parties intended for
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                      35

        expenses paid by Propeller to be covered, they could have defined
        “Tenant” more broadly or written the contract to provide indem-
        nification for Tenant and its parent company.
               Georgia law forbids requiring the Airport Authority to in-
        demnify a party it did not promise to indemnify. See Boafo v.
        Hosp. Corp. of Am., 338 S.E.2d 477, 478 (Ga. Ct. App. 1985) (rea-
        soning that certain transactions between a parent and subsidiary
        “do not alone or all together justify disregarding the separate cor-
        porate entity which the law has created”). In Peara v. Atlanta
        Newspapers, Inc., 169 S.E.2d 670 (Ga. Ct. App. 1969), the Court of
        Appeals of Georgia confronted a claim for indemnification under a
        suretyship contract. The surety agreement guaranteed that the de-
        fendant would indemnify “World Wide Computer Training”—a
        division of Computer Services Corporation—for advertising credit
        extended to World Wide. Id. at 671. But when the plaintiff sought
        payment under the agreement for advertising credit extended to
        Computer Services, the defendant refused to pay. Id. The Court
        of Appeals held that the defendant “did not agree to indemnify for
        credit extended to Computer Services Corp.,” even though Com-
        puter Services included the indemnitee, World Wide, as one of its
        divisions. Id.
              Here, as in Peara, indemnity under Georgia law may not be
        enforced “by implication or interpretation.” Id. Indeed, “under
        Georgia law, the words of a contract of indemnification must be
        construed strictly against the indemnitee and every presumption is
        against an intention to indemnify.” Firmani v. Dar-Court Builders,
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                        36

        LLC, 793 S.E.2d 596, 605 (Ga. Ct. App. 2016) (alterations adopted)
        (quoting Svc. Merchandise Co. v. Hunter Fan Co., 617 S.E.2d 235,
        237–38 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005)). Applying that rule of law, as we are
        Erie-bound to do with respect to Silver Comet’s state law contract
        claims, it would be improper to infer that the indemnification pro-
        vision is meant to cover expenses paid by anyone other than Silver
        Comet, especially considering that the contract could have (but did
        not) name anyone other than Silver Comet as the indemnitee.
               If the parties intended for expenses initially paid by Propeller
        to be covered, they could have defined “Tenant” more broadly or
        written the contract to provide indemnification for Tenant and its
        parent company. Such language is common and we have ad-
        dressed similar clauses in previous cases. See, e.g., Nat’l R.R. Pas-
        senger Corp. (Amtrak) v. Rountree Transp. & Rigging, Inc., 422
        F.3d 1275, 1284 (11th Cir. 2005) (analyzing an indemnification
        clause that guaranteed payment to, among others, “any parent,
        subsidiary, or affiliated system companies of [CSX]” (emphasis
        added)); Yellow Pages Photos, Inc. v. YP, LLC, 856 F. App’x 846,
        855 (11th Cir. 2021) (discussing clause that required indemnifica-
        tion of a company “and its parents, subsidiaries, and commonly
        owned or controlled affiliates and their respective officers, direc-
        tors and employees” (emphasis added) (other emphasis omitted)).
        But the parties did not strike such a bargain here. Instead, the Au-
        thority agreed to indemnify only Silver Comet.
              Silver Comet resists this plain-language-driven conclusion
        by arguing that the entity that cut the check to cover the expenses
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        21-12906                   Opinion of the Court                              37

        is irrelevant, and what matters is that Silver Comet “incurred” the
        expenses from an accounting perspective. In support of this argu-
        ment, Silver Comet cites Reichin’s declaration, which states that
        “[w]hile checks were cut by Propeller Airports to pay expenses on
        behalf of Silver Comet Terminal Partners, those expenses and pay-
        ments were properly allocated by journal entries to Silver Comet
        Terminal Partners.” Silver Comet also cites an IRS Revenue Rul-
        ing, which interprets the tax code to allow subsidiaries to claim tax
        deductions for expenses paid by its parent on its behalf. See Rev.
        Rul. 84-68, 1984-19 I.R.B. 5, 1984-1 C.B. 31, 1984 WL 262636. From
        that IRS Revenue Ruling and other sources of federal law, Silver
        Comet discerns a “common-sense rule,” under which a subsidiary
        incurs an expense even when its parent pays that expense. Silver
        Comet argues that because these expenses “belonged” to Silver
        Comet in an accounting sense, it can be indemnified for the
        amount of those expenses, even if there is no evidence that Silver
        Comet has ever or will ever part with any of its own money to
        cover the expenses. 6 See Reeves v. Mohawk Factoring, Inc., 583

        6 At oral argument, Silver Comet’s counsel contended that when Propeller
        paid Silver Comet’s expenses “you are either going to have an inter-company
        loan or you are going to have a capital contribution” from Propeller to Silver
        Comet. When pressed, however, counsel conceded that there is no evidence
        in the record (such as a loan agreement, etc.) to that effect. See Oral Argument
        at 7:50–9:00. Thus, there is no evidence that Silver Comet is obliged to pay
        Propeller back for the money Propeller paid on its behalf.
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        21-12906                  Opinion of the Court                              38

        S.E.2d 487, 488 (Ga. Ct. App. 2003) (“A subsidiary is generally con-
        sidered under law to be a separate legal entity form its parent.”).
               The problem with this argument is that even if Silver Comet
        “incurred” the expenses as an accounting matter, 7 the Airport Use
        Agreement is at best ambiguous as to whether an expense incurred
        by Silver Comet but paid by another entity is subject to indemnifi-
        cation. Indeed, it is noteworthy that, although the indemnification
        provision holds Silver Comet “harmless from and against any and
        all … expense,” it does not use either of the words “incur” or
        “paid.” And given that lack of a clear contractual right to indemni-
        fication, Georgia law requires us to construe the indemnification
        provision narrowly and against indemnity. See, e.g., Peara, 169
        S.E.2d at 671; Firmani, 793 S.E.2d at 605.
               Not only that, but the Airport Use Agreement contract also
        entitled Silver Comet to assign its lease and any interest thereun-
        der, meaning that Silver Comet could have assigned its rights un-
        der the indemnity provision to Propeller. Had Silver Comet as-
        signed its rights to Propeller, then “Tenant” (the party who, under
        the indemnity provision, “shall” be indemnified by the Airport

        7 The fact that Propeller, not Silver Comet, issued the 1099 tax forms for many
        of the expenses suggests that Propeller was the entity that “incurred” the ex-
        penses. See 26 C.F.R. § 1.6041-6(a) (“The name and address of the person
        making the payment and the name and address of the recipient of the payment
        shall be stated on Form 1099.”).
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        21-12906                  Opinion of the Court                              39

        Authority) would have included Propeller. But Silver Comet did
        not assign its rights to Propeller.
               We therefore affirm the district court’s entry of judgment
        on Silver Comet’s claim that the Airport Authority breached the
        Airport Use Agreement’s indemnification provision.
                                    b. Attorney’s Fees
               As an alternative ground for granting summary judgment on
        Silver Comet’s claim under the indemnity provision, the district
        court found that the Airport Use Agreement did not require the
        Airport Authority to indemnify Silver Comet for its attorney’s fees.
        We agree.
               Under Georgia law, “[t]he general rule is that attorneys fees
        are not included in the term ‘costs’ or ‘expenses’ in the absence of
        some statutory provision, rule of court, or by contract of the par-
        ties.” Bowers v. Fulton County, 183 S.E.2d 347, 348 (Ga. 1971). 8

        8 Silver Comet points to cases where this Court, applying Georgia law, held
        that an indemnity provision encompassed legal fees based on the phrases “any
        and all loss, cost, damage and expense” and “all loss, damage, and expense.”
        Brown v. Seaboard Coast Line R.R. Co., 554 F.2d 1299, 1304 (5th Cir. 1977);
        see also Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1207 (11th Cir. 1981) (en
        banc) (holding that the decisions of the Former Fifth Circuit handed down be-
        fore September 30, 1981, are binding precedent on the Eleventh Circuit). But
        the Georgia Court of Appeals has since rejected that interpretation, explaining
        that “it overlooked the long-standing Georgia rule that attorney fees cannot
        be recovered in the absence of an express contract provision” and that it in-
        stead turned on “a federal rule,” under which courts interpret “indemnity
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        21-12906                   Opinion of the Court                               40

        For that reason, an indemnitee may recover legal fees only when
        “the indemnity provision . . . expressly provide[s] for attorneys
        fees,” Doss & Assocs., 754 S.E.2d at 98 (citing Bowers, 183 S.E.2d
        at 348); see also George L. Smith II Ga. World Cong. Ctr. Auth. v.
        Miller Brewing Co., 566 S.E.2d 361, 363 (Ga. Ct. App. 2002) (same).
        Here, the indemnity provision does not expressly provide for attor-
        ney’s fees. So the Airport Authority need not indemnify Silver
        Comet for them.
               Contending otherwise, Silver Comet points to an exception
        to the general rule that an indemnity provision does not provide
        for legal fees absent an express provision to the contrary. Under
        this “exception to” the “general rule against the recovery of attor-
        ney fees and costs[,] ‘attorney fees and expenses of litigation in an
        underlying action are recoverable as real damages incurred as the
        result of defendants’ malfeasance or misfeasance.” Etowah Env’t
        Grp., LLC v. Walsh, 774 S.E.2d 220, 228 (Ga. Ct. App. 2015) (quot-
        ing Atlanta Woman’s Club v. Washburne, 450 S.E.2d 239, 241 (Ga.
        Ct. App. 1994)). 9 This exception “permits a plaintiff to recover all

        agreements broadly with regard to the type of damages recoverable.” Doss &
        Assocs. v. First Am. Title Ins. Co., 754 S.E.2d 85, 98 n.17 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).
        9 The Airport Authority argues that Silver Comet failed to raise this argument
        in the district court. We disagree. Silver Comet raised a very similar argument
        in the district court, citing many of the same cases and statutes that it does on
        appeal.
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                        41

        losses flowing from a defendant’s alleged misfeasance or malfea-
        sance,” Id.
               Although Silver Comet invokes that exception here, it ig-
        nores that the exception applies only when the legal fees flow from
        the defendants’ malfeasance or misfeasance. But see, e.g., Marcoux
        v. Fields, 394 S.E.2d 361, 363 (Ga. Ct. App. 1990) (explaining that
        attorney’s fees and expenses are recoverable as real damages “if
        they are the proximate result of” the “defendants’ malfeasance or
        misfeasance.” (citation omitted)). And Silver Comet has not
        pointed to malfeasance or misfeasance that caused its expenditure
        of attorney’s fees and other legal expenses. As a result, Silver
        Comet has failed to establish that the exception applies.
               We therefore apply the general rule and find that the indem-
        nity provision did not require the Airport Authority to indemnify
        Silver Comet for its attorney’s fees.
                                c. Taxiway Expenses
               The district court also found, in the alternative, that the Air-
        port Use Agreement did not require the Airport Authority to in-
        demnify Silver Comet for expenses paid in connection with a pro-
        ject that expanded the Airport’s taxiway. The Airport Use Agree-
        ment’s indemnity provision precedes a provision that discusses so-
        called “Improvement Payments.” That provision states that Silver
        Comet had the “right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to pay for
        all the improvements . . . to Paulding Northwest Atlanta Airport
        necessary to obtain the [Part 139] Certification.”                 The
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        21-12906                   Opinion of the Court                                42

        improvement-payment provision supplies a mechanism for Silver
        Comet to seek reimbursement from the Airport Authority, making
        clear that improvement payments are separate and distinct from
        the expenses covered by the indemnity provision.
               Before the district court, Silver Comet conceded that the
        “taxiway project was necessary to accommodate certain commer-
        cial passenger planes.” Of course, a Part 139 certification is also
        necessary to accommodate commercial passenger service and
        Smith testified to this fact at his deposition. See 14 CFR § 139, et
        seq. So Silver Comet effectively conceded that the moneys it paid
        in connection with the taxiway project were improvement pay-
        ments.
                We therefore decline to disturb the district court’s finding
        that the indemnity provision does not require the Airport Author-
        ity to indemnify Silver Comet for the moneys it spent in connection
        with the taxiway project. 10
                        iv. Termination of Airport Use Agreement
               Silver Comet’s final argument assigns error to the district
        court’s finding that the Airport Authority could terminate the

        10 Silver Comet now argues that a separate agreement, called the Bond Agree-
        ment, superseded the Airport Use Agreement’s indemnity and improvement-
        payment provisions with respect to Silver Comet’s taxiway expansion ex-
        penses. Silver Comet did not make this argument before the district court. So
        we will not address it here. See, e.g., CSX Transp., Inc. v. Gen. Mills, Inc., 846
        F.3d 1333, 1336–37 (11th Cir. 2017).
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        43

        Airport Use Agreement on December 7, 2018. As the district court
        explained, the Airport Authority was contractually entitled “to ter-
        minate the [Airport Use] Agreement if two conditions were met:
        (1) there was no commercial passenger service at the airport, and
        (2) [Silver Comet] had not exercised its option to lease the entire
        terminal building.” There’s no question that the first condition was
        met—that is, “commercial passenger service was not instituted at
        the Paulding County Airport.” So the only issue the district court
        resolved was whether Silver Comet “in fact exercised its option to
        lease the building.”
               Under the Airport Use Agreement, Silver Comet’s option to
        expand its lease to the entire terminal building was “exercisable by
        written notice to” the Airport Authority. The contract also pro-
        vided that “the parties shall enter into an amendment” to reflect
        Silver Comet’s expansion within fifteen business days after the Air-
        port Authority receives Silver Comet’s notice. Even though Silver
        Comet supplied the Airport Authority with notice of its intent to
        exercise that option, the district court found that Silver Comet did
        not exercise that option.
                On appeal, Silver Comet argues that the district court’s find-
        ing was erroneous because Silver Comet exercised its option to
        lease the entire building when it provided notice of its intent to ex-
        ercise that option. “All that was required to exercise the option was
        written notice,” avers Silver Comet. And, in its view, Silver Comet
        provided that written notice on June 29, 2018, when it sent a letter
        to the Airport Authority notifying it of Silver Comet’s “intent to
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        21-12906                Opinion of the Court                          44

        exercise” its expansion rights under the Airport Use Agreement.
        “This exercise was memorialized in writing on September 5, 2018,”
        Silver Comet adds, referencing a second letter, in which it asked
        the Airport Authority “to amend the Lease to reflect Silver Comet’s
        exercise of its expansion option to lease the Terminal Building.”
                But the problem with this argument is that the Airport Au-
        thority repeatedly sought to “enter into an amendment” to memo-
        rialize Silver Comet’s expansion, while Silver Comet did every-
        thing in its power to prevent the parties from “enter[ing] into an
        amendment” that reflected Silver Comet’s expansion. After Silver
        Comet first notified the Airport Authority that it intended to exer-
        cise its expansion rights to occupy the entire terminal building, the
        Airport Authority responded, indicating its readiness to “enter into
        an amendment” to preserve Silver Comet’s expansion rights, stat-
        ing that it was prepared to vacate the entire building, and asking
        Silver Comet to forward its rent payment for the first month by
        September 1, 2018. But Silver Comet didn’t respond until Septem-
        ber 5, 2018.
                And even then, Silver Comet did not pay the first month’s
        rent. Instead, it asked the Airport Authority to “amend the Lease
        to reflect . . . Silver Comet’s exercise of its expansion option to lease
        the Terminal Building.” The Airport Authority again complied,
        providing Silver Comet with a draft lease less than two weeks later.
        Rather than signing that lease, Silver Comet asked the Airport Au-
        thority to send a new one with two changes. Again, the Airport
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        45

        Authority complied and provided a new draft lease that incorpo-
        rated Silver Comet’s requested changes.
               One of those changes pushed the amendment’s effective
        date back from November 1, 2018, to December 1, 2018. But Silver
        Comet again asked the Airport Authority to place that effective
        date “on hold” after filing this lawsuit. That request proved too
        much when the Airport Authority rejected it and told Silver Comet
        that the Airport Authority would assume that Silver Comet did not
        intend to lease the terminal building unless the Airport Authority
        received “an executed lease and payment” before December 1,
        2018. Silver Comet never sent the Airport Authority an executed
        lease or payment. So the Airport Authority then terminated the
        Airport Use Agreement on December 7, 2018.
              Given all this back and forth, the district court construed Sil-
        ver Comet’s June 29 and September 5 letters as proving that Silver
        Comet “was not yet exercising the option, but rather that it only
        intended to do so at some point.”
               Resisting that conclusion, Silver Comet urges us to construe
        the contract in a way that would allow it to put the lease on hold
        while it decided whether to exercise its expansion rights without
        risking that the Airport Authority would exercise its termination
        right. Indeed, Silver Comet says that “[e]ntering into an amended
        lease was not” necessary for Silver Comet to exercise its expansion
        rights. Yet the contract explicitly says that “the parties shall enter
        into an amendment to his Lease” within “fifteen business days after
        [the Airport Authority’s] receipt” of Silver Comet’s notice to
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        21-12906               Opinion of the Court                        46

        expand its lease. And as we have explained, the Airport Authority
        tried at every step of the way to enter into an amended lease.
                In sum, the Airport Use Agreement speaks in mandatory ra-
        ther than permissive terms when it says that “the parties shall enter
        into an amendment” to reflect Silver Comet’s expansion within fif-
        teen business days after the Airport Authority receives Silver
        Comet’s notice. And given that Silver Comet refused to enter into
        an amended lease with the Airport Authority, we agree with the
        district court “that while [Silver Comet] may have planned to go
        through with its exercise of the option at the time it sent the letter
        to the Airport Authority, it instead chose not to do so when it de-
        cided to put that decision on hold.” Put simply, the Airport Use
        Agreement cannot be construed to permit Silver Comet to invoke
        its expansion rights while it decided whether to exercise those
        rights without risking that the Airport Authority would exercise its
        termination rights.
               We therefore affirm the district court’s entry of judgment
        against Silver Comet on its claim that the Airport Authority could
        not terminate the Airport Use Agreement.
                                  III. Conclusion
              For these reasons, we affirm the district court’s order grant-
        ing summary judgment and its entry of judgment in the Airport
        Authority’s favor.
              AFFIRMED.
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        21-12906             ROSENBAUM, J., DISSENTING                        1

        ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judge, Dissenting in Part:
                Although I almost completely agree with the Majority Opin-
        ion, I split with it on the question of whether the indemnity provi-
        sion covers expenses paid by Silver Comet’s parent company, Pro-
        peller Airports. In my view, the indemnity provision is broad
        enough to cover expenses paid by Propeller.
                  The indemnity provision requires the Airport Authority to
        indemnify Silver Comet “against any and all . . . expense[s] in con-
        nection with” the Airport Authority’s application for a Part 139 cer-
        tification (emphasis added). Because the provision covers “any and
        all . . . expense[s],” it does not limit the expenses to direct ones. So
        expenses charged eventually to Silver Comet qualify as a kind of
        “any and all . . . expense[s].” Then the relevant question is whether
        a given expense was incurred “in connection with” the Airport Au-
        thority’s application for a Part 139 certification. In other words, the
        mere fact that Propeller Airports initially paid an expense that Sil-
        ver Comet eventually incurred does not, to my mind, disqualify
        the expense from indemnification under the broad language of the
        contract.
               To be sure, I agree with the Majority Opinion that the in-
        demnity provision covers neither Silver Comet’s legal fees, nor the
        moneys Silver Comet spent in connection with the taxiway project.
        Maj. Op. at 39–43. But in addition to seeking indemnification for
        those expenses, Silver Comet also sought indemnification for
        things like salaries, overhead, office rent, and construction costs.
        The Airport Authority asks us to find that the indemnity provision
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        21-12906            ROSENBAUM, J., DISSENTING                       2

        does not cover these expenses for a variety of reasons, none of
        which the district court addressed. “Because the district court did
        not address these issues,” I would “decline to do so here in the first
        instance.” MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC v. Metro. Gen. Ins.
        Co., 40 F.4th 1295, 1306 (11th Cir. 2022). Instead, I would remand
        for the district court to determine whether the indemnity provision
        covers the remaining expenses for which Silver Comet seeks in-
        demnification.
               For these reasons, I would reverse the district court’s order
        granting summary judgment insofar as it held that the Airport Au-
        thority need not indemnify Silver Comet for expenses connected
        to the Airport Authority’s Part 139 certification simply because Sil-
        ver Comet’s parent company, Propeller Airports, paid for those ex-
        penses. I would remand the case to the district court with instruc-
        tions to determine whether the indemnity provision covers the re-
        maining expenses for which Silver Comet seeks indemnification.
        Because, in my view, the Majority Opinion incorrectly reaches the
        opposite conclusion, I respectfully dissent.