Then, plaintiffs finally argued that had they known about the misrepresentations, they would have rejected the Put and Call and refused to close. If the Active Members sued, they would have pled the breach of § 9.1 as an affirmative defense. The court’s order denying Peeples’s motion for sanctions, however, made no reference to this argument. It requires no citation of authority to say that, except when we invoke the “plain error doctrine,” which rarely applies in civil cases, we do not consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal. A mere recitation of the underlying facts, furthermore, is insufficient to preserve an argument; the argument itself must have been made below. See City of Nephi v. Fed. Energy Regulatory Comm’n, 147 F.3d 929, 933 n.9 (D.C.Cir.1998) (<HOLDING>); Wasco Prods., Inc. v. Southwall Tech., Inc.,
holding that argument not raised in opening brief is waived holding an argument not raised in opening brief is waived holding that a party does not preserve an argument for appellate review by merely informing the district court in the statement of facts in its opening brief of the factual basis for the claim holding that an argument is not preserved unless a party raises it in its opening brief holding that the movant has the initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion