Lee v. Town

Background

Johanna Lee filed the complaint on December 20, 2024. The complaint received a deficiency notice, and the Clerk of Court notified Lee’s counsel that the pleading needed to be refiled. Counsel had not refiled it by the time of the order. Lee also had not filed proof that the defendants had been served. Ben Town and Mthree Corporate Consulting Limited appeared and requested an extension of time to respond to the complaint until January 31, 2025.

Jurisdiction

The complaint asserted no federal claims and invoked diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Diversity jurisdiction generally requires complete diversity, meaning that all plaintiffs must be citizens of different states from all defendants. The court stated that Lee had to properly allege the parties’ citizenship in the complaint. The complaint did not allege the citizenship of “Defendant Towns.” As a result, the court concluded that Lee had not established subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the court’s legal authority to hear the case.

Rulings

Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil ordered that the case be dismissed without prejudice and with leave to amend. The order gave Lee until January 21, 2025, to file an amended complaint. The order also warned Lee and counsel that failure to follow court orders and applicable rules could lead to sanctions, including monetary sanctions, limits on claims or evidence, and dismissal for failure to prosecute.

The court denied defendants’ request for an extension of time to respond as moot because the case could not proceed unless and until Lee properly filed a pleading establishing the court’s jurisdiction. The Clerk was directed to terminate the motion at docket entry 8.