Hufford

MEMORANDUM *

First Bank of Marrietta brought this action against C. Benson Hufford and his law firm, Hufford, Horstman, McCullough & Mongini (collectively “Hufford”). It alleges that Hufford negligently or fraudulently induced it to purchase an illegal lease. The district court held that First Bank was collaterally estopped from litigating the issue of the lease’s validity due to earlier litigation between it and Kayenta Unified School District. We affirm.

(1) First Bank argues that because it did not oppose Kayenta’s motion for summary judgment, the district court erred when it found that its claim was “actually litigated.” We disagree. Although First Bank did not file papers opposing the summary judgment motion, it did fully participate in proceedings leading up to that. Moreover, following summary judgment, it filed motions for reconsideration and appealed to the Arizona Court of Appeals. First Bank had a more than ample opportunity to argue its position and did so. The district court did not err. See Chaney Bldg. Co. v. City of Tucson, 148 Ariz. 571, 573 , 716 P.2d 28, 30 (Sup.Ct. 1986); see also FDIC v. Daily (In re Daily), 47 F.3d 365, 368 (9th Cir.1995) (citing United…