Liberty Harbor Coffee Inc. v. Moss
- Rochon
- 1:25-cv-01335
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Liberty Harbor Coffee v. Moss, Judge Rochon ordered defendants to supplement removal allegations or face remand for unresolved diversity jurisdiction.
The defendants must provide additional citizenship information and may face remand to state court if they cannot establish complete diversity. The plaintiffs’ counsel must file a notice of appearance after receiving the order.
What happened
In Liberty Harbor Coffee Inc. v. Moss, the defendants removed the action from New York state court to federal court, claiming diversity jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship.
The court found that the removal notice did not identify the citizenship of each member of either limited liability company. It ordered the defendants to amend the notice by February 25, 2025, and to serve the order on the plaintiffs within two business days.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered that the case will be sent back to New York state court if the defendants cannot truthfully show complete diversity of citizenship. The plaintiffs’ lawyer was also directed to file a notice of appearance after receiving the order.
The detailed version
- Liberty Harbor Coffee Inc. v. Moss · No. 1:25-cv-01335
- Rochon
- Feb. 19, 2025
Background
Defendants Maggie Moss and Moss Business Consulting LLC removed this action from the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. They asserted that federal jurisdiction was proper because the parties were citizens of different states, a basis known as diversity jurisdiction.
The removal notice alleged that Liberty Harbor Coffee Inc. and NYNJ Coffee2 LLC were based in New Jersey, that Maggie Moss was a citizen of Colorado, and that Moss Business Consulting LLC was based in New York. The court explained that an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. Therefore, a notice relying on diversity jurisdiction must identify the citizenship of every person or entity that is a member of an LLC, including the state of incorporation and principal place of business of any corporate member.
Order
The court ordered the defendants to amend their notice of removal by February 25, 2025, to allege the citizenship of every constituent person or entity comprising NYNJ Coffee2 LLC and Moss Business Consulting LLC. The court further ordered that, if the defendants could not truthfully allege complete diversity of citizenship by that date, the action would be remanded to the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, without further notice.
The defendants were also ordered to serve the plaintiffs with the order within two business days and file proof of service. After that service, counsel for the plaintiffs was directed to file a notice of appearance within two business days. The opinion does not state that the action was actually remanded at that time.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.