Court Opinion

ID: 9364281
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-01-18 20:01:02.228611+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:15:36.929317
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 22-10425   Document: 34-1      Date Filed: 01/18/2023   Page: 1 of 17

                                                   [DO NOT PUBLISH]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

                         ____________________

                                 No. 22-10425
                         Non-Argument Calendar
                         ____________________

        GRUPO HGM TECNOLOGIAS SUBMARINA, S.A.,
                                                      Plaintiff-Appellee,
        versus
        ENERGY SUBSEA, LLC,
        ODDGEIR INGVARTSEN,

                                                 Defendants-Appellants,

        INGVARTSEN AS, et al.,

                                                            Defendants.
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        2                      Opinion of the Court                22-10425

                             ____________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Southern District of Alabama
                      D.C. Docket No. 1:18-cv-00430-JB-N
                            ____________________

        Before JORDAN, NEWSOM, and BRANCH, Circuit Judges.
        PER CURIAM:
               This case arises from a contract dispute over salvaging plane
        wreckage from the ocean floor. Energy Subsea, LLC (Energy) ap-
        peals after a bench trial that resulted in a damages award to Grupo
        HGM Tecnologias Submarina (Grupo). Energy and its managing
        member, Oddgeir Ingvartsen, challenge five aspects of the district
        court’s order: They assert (1) that they did not breach their con-
        tract with Grupo, (2) that they did not commit fraud, (3) that En-
        ergy was not Ingvartsen’s alter ego, and (4) that they did not owe
        attorney’s fees to Grupo. Ingvartsen separately argues, for the first
        time on appeal, (5) that he was denied a fair trial when his counsel
        had to participate via video during the COVID pandemic. We af-
        firm the district court in all respects and deny Ingvartsen’s request
        for a new trial.
                                          I
               In July and August 2017, two small jets crashed into the sea
        off the coast of Venezuela while carrying high-ranking Venezuelan
        government officials. The Venezuelan Civil Authority hired
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        22-10425                Opinion of the Court                         3

        Grupo to locate and recover the two planes. Grupo is a Panama-
        nian company with its principal place of business in Venezuela. An
        Energy employee who used to work for Grupo approached
        Grupo’s current management and offered to provide the necessary
        equipment and perform the work. Energy is a Florida-incorpo-
        rated LLC that operates from Mobile, Alabama. Grupo and Energy
        then negotiated a contract for $650,000; Grupo would pay $450,000
        up front and $200,000 after the first 30 days of operation, alongside
        other fees and charges for additional work. The parties agreed that
        mobilization would begin as soon as they exchanged the first pay-
        ment.
               The parties soon realized that it would be difficult to transfer
        money from Venezuela to the United States. Oddgeir Ingvartsen
        was Energy’s managing LLC member, and he suggested using an-
        other company that he owned in Norway, Ingvartsen AS, to trans-
        fer funds through a European bank account to Energy. Grupo then
        signed another contract with Ingvartsen AS. Grupo wired the
        $450,000, and Ingvartsen AS transferred appropriate amounts to
        Energy and other companies to perform the job.
               Energy stated in an email to Grupo that it would have a ves-
        sel ready within five days of the first payment and that transit to
        Venezuela would take seven days, for a total of twelve days until
        arrival. Energy also represented that it was 90% sure that it would
        charter a vessel from another company called Laborde Marine. In
        reality, Ingvartsen opened the Energy bank account with only $100
        just days before the transaction with Grupo. Ingvartsen also had
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        4                         Opinion of the Court                     22-10425

        not contacted Laborde Marine, had never hired one of its vessels,
        and did not obtain a quote from that company until May of the
        following year.
               A few weeks later, Energy told Grupo that the U.S. govern-
        ment had routed many vessels to assist with recovery from Hurri-
        cane Maria, creating difficulties for their project. They sent only
        sonar equipment and a team to use it, leaving Grupo to provide a
        vessel and other support equipment. Energy returned $100,000 of
        the original contract price to cover Grupo’s costs. This transaction
        only covered part of the contracted work—localizing the lost air-
        craft—and the rest of the recovery work remained.
               A few weeks later, Ingvartsen demanded an additional
        $200,000 from Grupo to charter a vessel. Though the contract did
        not require it, Grupo acquiesced. Still Energy did not perform.
        Grupo asked for some of its money back. In response, Ingvartsen
        presented an invoice for the side-scan sonar work it had already
        provided, showing well above the pricing that the contract quotes
        originally indicated.1
              A few months later in January 2018, Ingvartsen again de-
        manded more money to charter a vessel. Grupo again complied,
        wiring about $256,000 to Energy. In February, Ingvartsen again
        asked for more money. Grupo delivered it in the form of fuel,

        1The district court omitted $25,000 for sonar mobilization, but this omission
        has no effect on its conclusion of fact that the December 9, 2017 invoice from
        Ingvartsen AS far exceeded their original quotes for the work.
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        22-10425                  Opinion of the Court                             5

        which Energy promptly sold for $359,260. Energy still did not per-
        form. Finally, Grupo chartered another company’s vessel.
              Grupo sued for breach of contract, fraud, and unjust enrich-
        ment, and alleged that Ingvartsen had used Energy as his alter ego.
        Grupo won a damages award of $3,575,138.90 after a bench trial.
        The district court held that Oddgeir Ingvartsen had treated Energy
        and Ingvartsen AS like alter egos, so he and Energy were jointly
        and severally liable for breach of contract and fraud. 2
                                             II
                 Following a bench trial, we review the district court’s find-
        ings of fact for clear error and its conclusions of law de novo. Crys-
        tal Ent. & Filmworks, Inc. v. Jurado, 643 F.3d 1313, 1319 (11th Cir.
        2011). We have maritime jurisdiction over a contract “for hire ei-
        ther of a ship or of the sailors and officers to man her.” Kossick v.
        United Fruit Co., 365 U.S. 731, 735 (1961); see also U.S. Const. art.
        III, § 2, cl. 1 (extending federal judicial power to “all Cases of admi-
        ralty and maritime jurisdiction”); 28 U.S.C. § 1333(1) (granting fed-
        eral district courts original jurisdiction over “[a]ny civil case of ad-
        miralty or maritime jurisdiction”). We may exercise supplemental
        jurisdiction over state-law claims that comprise “part of the same
        case or controversy” as admiralty-contract claims. 28 U.S.C.
        § 1367. Alternatively, claims relying on state law in this case are

        2 The district court dismissed the unjust-enrichment claim on the ground that
        it was unavailable because the plaintiff “ha[d] an adequate remedy for breach
        of contract.” The parties do not raise this claim on appeal.
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        6                       Opinion of the Court                 22-10425

        covered by the grant of diversity jurisdiction because the amount-
        in-controversy here exceeds $75,000 and Grupo is a foreign corpo-
        ration. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(2).
                                          III
               Energy and Ingvartsen raise five challenges to the district
        court’s order. They appeal the district court’s holdings that Energy
        breached the contract, that Energy was Oddgeir Ingvartsen’s alter
        ego, that Energy and Ingvartsen committed fraud, and that Energy
        owed attorney’s fees to Grupo. Ingvartsen contends, for the first
        time on appeal, that he was denied a fair trial because his lawyer
        was forced to use video technology to join the proceedings during
        the COVID pandemic.
                                          A
                Energy and Ingvartsen argue that they did not breach their
        contract with Grupo. We face two issues within the breach-of-con-
        tract claim: (1) whether Energy breached its contract with Grupo;
        and (2) whether Grupo’s contract with Ingvartsen effectively was a
        novation of the initial contract that relieved Energy of its duties.
        The first proposition relies on the second, so we start with the latter
        question.
               In determining whether a novation occurred, we face a
        threshold question: Does maritime or Alabama law govern the no-
        vation issue? The parties agree that the contract is maritime in na-
        ture. If they so choose, they can waive applying Alabama law to
        the contract. See, e.g., Wallace v. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., 733 F.3d
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        22-10425               Opinion of the Court                        7

        1093, 1104 n.10 (11th Cir. 2013); see generally Sun Life Assurance
        Co. of Canada v. Imperial Premium Fin., LLC, 904 F.3d 1197, 1208–
        09 (11th Cir. 2018). But it is not self-evident that a novation of a
        maritime contract must be governed by the same law as the mari-
        time contract itself (which usually would be governed by federal
        common law) especially when the parties agreed to that course of
        action. See Norfolk S. Ry. Co. v. Kirby, 543 U.S. 14, 27
        (2004)(“[N]ot every term in every maritime contract can only be
        controlled by some federally defined admiralty rule.”) (quoting
        Wilburn Boat Co. v. Fireman’s Fund Ins., 348 U.S. 310, 313 (1955)
        (applying state law to a maritime contract for marine insurance be-
        cause of the state’s regulatory power over the insurance industry)).
        The district court applied Alabama law to the novation issue.
               The general choice-of-law rule relies on a concern for uni-
        formity: “While states may sometimes supplement federal mari-
        time policies, a state may not deprive a person of any substantial
        admiralty rights as defined in controlling acts of Congress or by in-
        terpretative decisions of this Court.” Pope & Talbot v. Hawn, 346
        U.S. 406, 409–10 (1953); see Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. v. Cal-
        houn, 516 U.S. 199, 210 (1996) (“[I]n several contexts, we have rec-
        ognized that vindication of maritime policies demanded uniform
        adherence to a federal rule of decision, with no leeway for variation
        or supplementation by state law.”).
               Ultimately, we need not reach the choice-of-law question
        because Ingvartsen’s argument fails under both standards. Romero
        v. International Terminal Operating Co., 358 U.S. 354, 375–76
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        8                         Opinion of the Court                      22-10425

        (1959) (“This Court has been able to wait until an actual conflict
        between state and federal standards has arisen, and only then pro-
        ceed to resolve the problem of whether the State was free to regu-
        late or federal law must govern.”), overruled on other grounds,
        Miles v. Apex Marine Corp., 498 U.S. 19 (1990) 3; Grigsby v. Coastal
        Marine Serv. of Tex., Inc., 412 F.2d 1011, 1026–27 (5th Cir. 1969)
        (“It is immaterial whether that duty is imposed by state statute, the
        common law or the maritime law. In any case, the failure to per-
        form the duty constitutes ‘fault.’”). Alabama law embodies a four-
        pronged novation test: “(1) a previous valid obligation; (2) an agree-
        ment of the parties thereto to a new contract or obligation; (3) an
        agreement that it is an extinguishment of the old contract or obli-
        gation; and (4) the new contract or obligation must be a valid one
        between the parties thereto.” Safeco Ins. of Am. v. Graybar Elec.
        Co., 59 So. 3d 649, 656 (Ala. 2010) (quoting Boh Bros. Constr. Co.
        v. Nelson, 730 So. 2d 132, 134 (Ala. 1999)). The federal admiralty
        standard is similar: “A novation is the substitution of a new for an
        old debt, by which the latter is extinguished. . . . But the consent of
        the creditor must be positively declared, as the law will not pre-
        sume that he means to abandon his rights under the first contract.”
        Ramsay v. Allegre, 25 U.S. 611, 612–13 (1827).

        3 Miles v. Apex Marine Corp., 498 U.S. 19, 33 (1990), noted that Romero’s hold-

        ing that there was no maritime right of survival was superseded by statute
        with the Jones Act, which allows such a right of action to survive to the sea-
        man’s personal representative. But its choice-of-law reasoning was unaffected.
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        22-10425                Opinion of the Court                           9

                  Both standards require some evidence of an agreement that
        the new contract is an extinguishment of the old. Energy has pro-
        vided none except conclusory deposition testimony from
        Ingvartsen. The district court did not find this testimony credible,
        and we find no clear error in that determination. Meanwhile,
        Grupo produced three witnesses testifying that their understanding
        was always that Energy Subsea was continuing to perform its con-
        tract via payment through Ingvartsen AS. We also find no clear
        error in the district court’s finding that Grupo always intended for
        Energy to perform the contract. See Southern Coal Corp. v. Drum-
        mond Coal Sales, Inc., 28 F.4th 1334, 1341 (11th Cir. 2022) (“If a
        contract is ambiguous ‘and the trial court must look to extrinsic
        evidence to determine the parties’ intent, we review its findings of
        fact . . . as to the parties’ intent for clear error.”) (quoting Reynolds
        v. Roberts, 202 F.3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2000)). We affirm the district
        court’s holding that no novation occurred here.
                Because there was no novation, Energy remained bound to
        its contract with Grupo. Here, the parties’ agreement that the con-
        tract is maritime clearly points us toward federal maritime breach
        standards. To recover damages for breach of contract, Grupo must
        prove “(1) the terms of the maritime contract, (2) that the contract
        was breached, and (3) the reasonable value of the purported dam-
        ages.” Sweet Pea Marine, Ltd. v. APJ Marine, Inc., 411 F.3d 1242,
        1249 (11th Cir. 2005). The parties do not dispute that they entered
        a contract or that Energy failed to perform. That failure is disposi-
        tive.
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        10                        Opinion of the Court                      22-10425

                Energy’s briefing cites no law in support of its position on
        breach of contract, so we evaluate two alternative legal theories
        that it might be advancing. First, to the extent that Energy now
        argues cancellation instead of novation, we hold that, as the nova-
        tion analysis discussed, there was no agreement to cancel the orig-
        inal contract, for Hurricane Maria-related reasons or otherwise.
        Ingvartsen’s letter stating that Hurricane Maria had created diffi-
        culties promised a vessel in January 2018, but Energy did not per-
        form by that date and continued demanding further payments af-
        terward. This letter shows that Ingvartsen, to the contrary, agreed
        to continue attempting performance.
                Second, if Energy contends that force majeure prevented
        performance, we find that argument similarly unpersuasive. The
        contract contains no explicit force-majeure clause. One identical
        clause in both contracts could be interpreted to provide for physical
        impossibility: “Except to the extent that it may be legally or phys-
        ical impossible . . . the Contractor shall comply with the Com-
        pany’s reasonable instructions . . . .” Even if we interpret this
        clause generously as a force-majeure provision, Energy’s argument
        would fail under both maritime and Alabama law. 4 Alabama law

        4 If we did not construe this clause as a force-majeure provision, Energy’s ar-
        gument would be completely foreclosed under Alabama law. Alpine Const.
        Co. v. Water Works Bd. of City of Birmingham, 377 So. 2d 954, 956 (Ala. 1979)
        (“Where one by his contract undertakes an obligation which is absolute, he is
        bound to perform within the terms of the contract or answer in damages, de-
        spite an act of God . . . because these contingencies could have been provided
        against by his contract.”).
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        22-10425               Opinion of the Court                       11

        will not recognize a force-majeure excuse if the breaching party has
        “been guilty of great neglect” so that “its own negligence con-
        curred with the act of God” to prevent performance. Ollinger &
        Bruce Dry Dock Co. v. James Gibbony & Co., 202 Ala. 516, 519
        (1918). Maritime law will similarly reject force majeure if the
        breaching party has not “demonstrate[d] its efforts to perform its
        contractual duties despite the occurrence of the event that it claims
        constituted force majeure.” Phillips Puerto Rico Core, Inc. v.
        Tradax Petroleum Ltd., 782 F.2d 314, 319 (2d Cir. 1985).“The bur-
        den of demonstrating force majeure is on the party seeking to have
        its performance excused.” Id.
                Energy has not met its burden to demonstrate its efforts to
        perform; to the contrary, the facts show that its own negligence
        resulted in breach. See, e.g., Doc. 82 at 14 (showing that Ingvartsen
        had not contacted the company he was going to use for a vessel
        charter, had never used that company, and did not get a quote until
        May of the following year, meanwhile using that company’s name
        in his promises to Grupo); id. at 6–7 (Ingvartsen refusing to return
        Grupo’s money when it did not perform and instead sending an
        above-market invoice for the small partial performance it had ren-
        dered); id. (Grupo’s first $200,000 payment above the contract
        price); id. at 7 (showing Grupo’s second additional payment of
        $256,000); id. at 7 (showing Grupo’s third payment in the form of
        fuel that Energy sold for $359,260); Br. of Appellant at 20 (confirm-
        ing that Ingvartsen opened a new account with $100 just before this
        transaction, supposedly for only this transaction).
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        12                      Opinion of the Court                  22-10425

              We thus affirm the district court’s holding that Energy
        breached its contract.
                                           B
                Ingvartsen also challenges the district court’s holding that he
        used Energy as an alter ego, rendering him jointly and severally
        liable for damages. Again, we need not reach the choice-of-law is-
        sue, because Ingvartsen would lose under either standard.
               Both maritime and state standards rely on the trial court’s
        findings of fact to determine whether to pierce the corporate veil.
        Under maritime law, “[w]hether a corporate entity will be disre-
        garded depends upon the trial court’s findings of fact.” Talen’s
        Landing, Inc. v. M/V Venture, II, 656 F.2d 1157, 1160 (5th Cir. Unit
        A Sept. 1981); id. (“It is clear that Admiralty Courts can pierce the
        corporate veil of a corporation in order to reach the ‘alter egos’ of
        the corporate defendant directly involved.”) (citing Swift & Co.
        Packers v. Compania Colombiana Del Caribe S.A., 339 U.S. 684
        (1950)); see Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th
        Cir. 1998). “[A] finding of control or domination of a corporation
        by an individual or a corporate entity and the use of the corporate
        fiction are necessary prerequisites to the application of the alter-
        ego theory of liability. . . . Once such a connection is established, it
        is appropriate to brush aside the corporate veil when it appears a
        corporation was organized for fraudulent purposes, illegality, or
        wrongdoing. . . . Likewise, the fiction of corporate entity will be
        disregarded when required in the interest of justice.” Talen’s Land-
        ing, Inc., 656 F.2d at 1161 n.6.
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        22-10425               Opinion of the Court                       13

                The very case that Ingvartsen cites shows that Alabama law
        is to the same effect: “[T]he following factors are to be considered
        when determining whether to disregard the corporate form: ‘(1)
        inadequacy of capital; (2) fraudulent purpose in conception or op-
        eration of the business; or (3) operation of the corporation as an
        instrumentality or alter ego.’” M&M Wholesale Florist, Inc. v. Em-
        mons, 600 So. 2d 998, 1000 (Ala. 1992) (quoting First Health, Inc. v.
        Blanton, 585 So. 2d 1331, 1334 (Ala. 1991)).
                The district court found that Ingvartsen dominated and con-
        trolled Energy Subsea for alter-ego purposes. He opened a bank
        account for Energy with a $100 deposit only days before the trans-
        action with Grupo, though he argues that he opened a new account
        for this transaction. He then proceeded to transfer funds gratui-
        tously between Energy and Ingvartsen AS and his personal ac-
        count, leaving Energy with a negative balance only a few months
        later. We find no clear error in the district court’s finding of dom-
        ination and control for maritime-law purposes. These same facts
        give rise to evidence of fraud in the operation of the business under
        Alabama law.
               We review the district court’s legal conclusion to pierce the
        corporate veil de novo. We hold that its factual findings, in which
        there was no clear error, satisfy both the Alabama and maritime
        standards for piercing the corporate veil. On the maritime front,
        given the prerequisite finding of domination, “the fiction of corpo-
        rate entity will be disregarded when required in the interest of jus-
        tice.” Talen’s Landing, 656 F.2d at 1161 n.6. As for Alabama law,
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        14                      Opinion of the Court                  22-10425

        these facts fit both “fraudulent purpose in . . . operation of the busi-
        ness” and “operation of the corporation as an instrumentality or
        alter ego.” M&M Wholesale Florist, 600 So. 2d at 1000 (internal
        citation omitted). We affirm the district court’s decision:
        Ingvartsen and Energy are jointly and severally liable for their dam-
        ages verdict.
                                           C
              Ingvartsen also challenges the district court’s holding that
        Energy and Ingvartsen committed tortious fraud against Grupo.
        The parties agree that Alabama law applies to this tort claim, and
        waive any other choice-of-law issues that might arise.
                Alabama law sets forth four “essential elements” of a cause
        of action for fraud: (1) a false representation; (2) concerning a ma-
        terial fact; (3) reliance upon the false representation; and (4) dam-
        ages as a proximate result. Harmon v. Motors Ins., 493 So. 2d 1370,
        1373 (Ala. 1986). Ingvartsen and Energy made several representa-
        tions that would qualify. Prime among them are Ingvartsen’s and
        Energy’s representations that they would perform the contract af-
        ter receiving additional payments of $200,000 in November 2017
        and more than $250,000 in January 2018, as well as payment in the
        form of fuel in March 2018. Each representation concerning the
        material fact that Energy would perform induced reliance and
        proximately resulted in damages to Grupo. They exceeded mere
        breach of contract, as Energy argues, because these payments
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        22-10425                   Opinion of the Court                                15

        clearly were not required by the contract. We affirm the district
        court’s holding that Ingvartsen and Energy committed fraud.5
                                               D
                  The district court awarded attorney’s fees to Grupo “[b]ased
        on the totality of Defendants’ fraudulent conduct.” Doc. 82 at 24.
        Again, we need not decide any choice-of-law issue because both
        the maritime and Alabama standards allow attorney’s fee awards
        in instances of bad faith. Compare Misener Marine Const., Inc. v.
        Norfolk Dredging Co., 594 F.3d 832, 838 (2010) (“Attorneys’ fees
        will be awarded to the prevailing party in maritime cases if: ‘(1)
        they are provided by the statute governing the claim, [or] (2) the
        nonprevailing party acted in bad faith in the course of the litigation
        . . . .’”) (quoting Natco Ltd. Partnership v. Moran Towing of Fla.,
        Inc., 267 F.3d 1190, 1196 (11th Cir. 2001)) with Reynolds v. First
        Alabama Bank of Montgomery, N.A., 471 So. 2d 1238, 1243 (Ala.
        1985) (“[Attorney’s fees] can be awarded, as was the case in [our
        precedent], where there has been a fraudulent representation.”).
        Further, both Alabama and maritime law require us to review
        awards of attorney’s fees for abuse of discretion. Compare

        5 Energy makes only passing mention of a limited-liability clause in the facts
        section of its brief, and has thus forfeited argument on that point. Sapuppo v.
        Allstate Floridian Ins., 739 F.3d 678, 681 (11th Cir. 2014) (“[A]n appellant aban-
        dons a claim when he either makes only passing references to it or raises it in
        a perfunctory manner without supporting argument and authority.”).
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        16                     Opinion of the Court                 22-10425

        Compania Galeana, S.A. v. Motor Vessel Caribbean Mara, 565 F.2d
        358, 360 (5th Cir. 1978) (reviewing a denial of attorney’s fees in an
        admiralty action for abuse of discretion) with Bannister v. Eubanks,
        575 So. 2d 563, 567 (Ala. 1991) (“This Court will not set aside the
        trial court’s award of attorney fees unless there is clear evidence of
        abuse of that discretion.”).
                We find no abuse of discretion. The facts amply support the
        district court’s decision that Energy and Ingvartsen demonstrated
        bad faith in their dealings with Grupo. See, e.g., Doc. 82 at 14
        (showing that Ingvartsen had not contacted the company he was
        going to use for a vessel charter, had never used that company, and
        did not get a quote until May of the following year, meanwhile us-
        ing that company’s name in his promises to Grupo); id. at 6–7
        (showing Ingvartsen refusing to return Grupo’s money when it did
        not perform and instead sending an above-market invoice for the
        small partial performance it had rendered); id. (Grupo’s first
        $200,000 payment above the contract price); id. at 7 (showing
        Grupo’s second additional payment of $256,000); id. at 7 (showing
        Grupo’s third payment in the form of fuel that Energy sold for
        $359,260). We affirm the district court’s award of attorney’s fees.
                                          E
               Finally, Ingvartsen seeks a new trial based on the district
        court’s COVID protocols, including having Ingvartsen’s counsel
        participate via video conference. After Ingvartsen’s counsel in-
        formed the court that he may have been exposed to COVID, the
        judge asked whether he would be willing to “participate remotely.”
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        22-10425                Opinion of the Court                         17

        Trial counsel stated that he had “no objection to that.” He only
        asked for time to go to his office where he could access the software
        to do so. We need not decide whether video participation during
        the COVID pandemic was problematic because any error was in-
        vited. United States v. Feldman, 931 F.3d 1245, 1260 (11th Cir.
        2019) (“[W]hen a party agrees with a court’s proposed instructions,
        the doctrine of invited error applies, meaning that review is waived
        even if plain error would result.”) (quoting United States v. Frank,
        599 F.3d 1221, 1240 (11th Cir. 2010)). Ingvartsen’s counsel explic-
        itly agreed to conducting the trial via video, so any error was in-
        vited and we decline to review it.
                                          IV
                In sum, we affirm the district court in all respects. It did not
        err in holding that Energy had breached its contract with Grupo,
        that Energy was Ingvartsen’s alter ego, that Energy and Ingvartsen
        committed tortious fraud, and that Energy owed attorney’s fees to
        Grupo. We also decline to review Ingvartsen’s request for a new
        trial because any error was invited.
              For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s or-
        der and deny appellant’s request for a new trial.

               AFFIRMED.