Woodson v. Loram Maintenance of Way Inc.

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Woodson v. Loram Maintenance of Way Inc., 518 F. App'x 9 (2d Cir. 2013)
Christopher, Droney, Hall, Jane, Peter, Restani

Woodson v. Loram Maintenance of Way Inc.

Opinion

SUMMARY ORDER

Plaintiff-Appellant Joseph Woodson, proceeding pro se, appeals from the district court’s judgment granting a motion to compel arbitration and dismissing his complaint alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e et seq.; and the New York State Human Rights Law, N.Y. Exec. Law § 290 et seq. We assume the parties’ familiarity with the underlying facts, procedural history of the case, and issues on appeal.

For the first time on appeal, Woodson raises various challenges to the validity of his employment agreement and to arbitration clause within that agreement. “[I]t is a well-established general rule that an appellate court will not consider an issue raised for the first time on appeal.” Bogle-Assegai v. Connecticut, 470 F.3d 498, 504 (2d Cir. 2006) (alteration in original) (quoting Greene v. United States, 13 F.3d 577, 586 (2d Cir. 1994)). ‘Although we may exercise discretion to consider waived arguments where necessary to avoid a manifest injustice, the circumstances normally do not militate in favor of an exercise of discretion to address new arguments on appeal where those arguments were available to the parties below and they proffer no reason for their failure to raise the arguments below.” In re Nortel Networks Corp. Sec. Litig., 539 F.3d 129, 133 (2d Cir. 2008) (per curiam) (internal quotation marks, brackets, and ellipsis omitted). Woodson’s arguments were available to him in the district court, and he has not provided justifiable reasons for failing to *10 raise them there. We thus deem Wood-son’s arguments waived and decline to consider them. See Singleton v. Wulff, 428 U.S. 106, 120, 96 S.Ct. 2868, 49 L.Ed.2d 826 (1976).

For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the district court is hereby AFFIRMED.

Reference

Full Case Name
Joseph WOODSON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LORAM MAINTENANCE OF WAY INCORPORATED, Defendant-Appellee
Status
Unpublished