Menna v. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:23-cv-10333
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 6
Menna v. Stop & Shop: Judge Karas dismissed the case without prejudice because diversity jurisdiction was lacking.
Alfred Menna and the two defendants; the case was closed after dismissal without prejudice, without a decision on the underlying claims.
What happened
In Menna v. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC, Alfred Menna sued The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC, and 44 South Broadway Owner LLC in federal court. The parties later submitted positions about sending the case to state court, but the court explained that it could not do so because the case had originally been filed in federal court.
The court examined whether it had authority to hear the case based on the parties’ citizenship. It found that 44 South Broadway Owner LLC was a New York citizen because its sole member, 44 South Broadway Partners LLC, had several New York-citizen members. Because Menna was also a New York citizen, complete diversity was absent. The court also found that Menna’s allegation that 44 South Broadway Owner LLC was a Delaware citizen was insufficient.
Judge Kenneth M. Karas dismissed the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, without prejudice, and directed the Clerk of Court to close the case. The court did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Menna v. The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC · No. 7:23-cv-10333
- Kenneth Karas
- July 9, 2024
Background
Alfred Menna filed an amended complaint against The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC, and 44 South Broadway Owner LLC. The case was filed originally in federal court. After a conference, the parties submitted letters addressing whether the case should be sent to state court.
Jurisdictional Issue
The court explained that it had no authority to “remand” the case because remand applies when a case was removed from state court, and this case was originally filed in federal court. The court therefore considered whether the case should be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the court lacked legal authority to hear it.
Menna relied on diversity jurisdiction, which requires complete diversity: every plaintiff must be a citizen of a different state from every defendant. The court treated Menna as a New York citizen. It found that The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC was a Delaware limited liability company with its principal place of business in Massachusetts, and that its sole member was Ahold Delhaize USA, Inc., a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in Massachusetts.
For 44 South Broadway Owner LLC, the court traced citizenship through the company’s ownership structure. The company was entirely owned by 44 South Broadway Partners LLC, which had at least nine members who were New York residents. Because a limited liability company is a citizen of every state in which its members are citizens, the court concluded that 44 South Broadway Owner LLC was a New York citizen. That destroyed complete diversity because Menna was also a New York citizen.
The court separately held that Menna’s allegation that 44 South Broadway Owner LLC was a Delaware citizen “for jurisdictional purposes” did not adequately allege the citizenship of each member. The court also rejected the argument that dismissal would waste judicial resources, explaining that subject-matter jurisdiction cannot be waived or created by the parties’ agreement.
Disposition
The court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The dismissal was without prejudice, and the Clerk of Court was directed to close the case. The opinion did not decide the merits of Menna’s underlying claims.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.