Appsoleut Coders LLP v. Meta Platforms Inc.
- P. Castel
- 1:25-cv-04696
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Appsoleut Coders v. Meta, Judge Castel ordered citizenship information and complaint amendments, warning the case will be dismissed if not corrected.
Appsoleut Coders, LLP, Meta Platforms, Inc., and Instagram, LLC. The action may be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Appsoleut Coders does not amend the complaint within the stated deadline.
What happened
In Appsoleut Coders LLP v. Meta Platforms Inc., Appsoleut Coders brought a lawsuit against Meta Platforms and Instagram, relying on federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship. The order addresses whether the complaint provides enough information to show that this court has authority to hear the case.
The court found that the complaint did not adequately state Appsoleut Coders’ citizenship or Instagram’s citizenship. It explained that a limited liability company has the citizenship of each member and that a partnership has the citizenship of each partner. The complaint did not identify Instagram’s members and their citizenships, and it gave only Appsoleut Coders’ principal place of business in India.
Judge Castel allowed Appsoleut Coders 14 days to send Instagram one written question seeking the required citizenship information. Instagram must respond within 14 days, and Appsoleut Coders must amend its complaint within 30 days to identify all parties’ citizenships. The court stated that the action will be dismissed for lack of authority to hear it if the complaint is not amended.
The detailed version
- Appsoleut Coders LLP v. Meta Platforms Inc. · No. 1:25-cv-04696
- P. Castel
- June 25, 2025
Background
Appsoleut Coders, LLP brought the action against Meta Platforms, Inc. and Instagram, LLC. The complaint relied on diversity jurisdiction, which allows a federal court to hear certain civil cases involving citizens of different states when the amount in dispute exceeds $75,000. The court emphasized that the parties must be completely diverse, meaning that no plaintiff and defendant may share citizenship.
Citizenship Allegations
The court held that the complaint did not adequately allege the citizenship of Appsoleut Coders or Instagram. Instagram is a limited liability company, and such a company has the citizenship of each of its members. The complaint did not identify Instagram’s members or their citizenships. If a member is a corporation, the complaint must provide the corporation’s state of incorporation and principal place of business.
Appsoleut Coders is a limited liability partnership. For diversity purposes, a partnership has the citizenship of each partner. The complaint stated only that Appsoleut Coders had its principal place of business in India. The court also noted that if parties on both sides are foreign citizens, the court may not have diversity jurisdiction.
Order
The court gave Appsoleut Coders 14 days from the order to serve a single interrogatory—a written question used to obtain information—on Instagram about the citizenship of all natural-person members and, if applicable, the incorporation and principal place of business of any corporate members. Instagram must respond within 14 days.
The court ordered Appsoleut Coders to amend the complaint within 30 days to state the citizenship of all parties. The order states that the action will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if the complaint is not amended. The order did not itself dismiss the action.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.