Collier, Jr. v. Njuguna
- Alison Nathan
- 1:19-cv-09608
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Collier v. Njuguna, Judge Nathan ordered Jack Transport to clarify its members’ citizenship or face possible dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.
William Collier, Jr., Njuguna J. Jacob, and Jack Transport, LLC; the order particularly requires Jack Transport, LLC to provide citizenship information needed to determine federal jurisdiction.
What happened
William Collier, Jr. sued Njuguna J. Jacob and Jack Transport, LLC in Collier, Jr. v. Njuguna. The case was removed to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction, which requires the parties to be citizens of different states.
The court had previously ordered an amended complaint identifying the citizenship of every person or entity that belongs to Jack Transport. Although Collier amended his complaint, the court found that it still did not identify all of Jack Transport’s members’ citizenship. For corporate members, the information must include the state of incorporation and principal place of business.
Judge Alison J. Nathan ordered Jack Transport to amend the notice of removal within 20 days to provide the missing information. The order states that the case will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Jack Transport cannot truthfully establish complete diversity by that deadline.
The detailed version
- Collier, Jr. v. Njuguna · No. 1:19-cv-09608
- Alison Nathan
- Nov. 21, 2019
Background
The order concerns whether the federal court has diversity jurisdiction. Diversity jurisdiction generally requires complete diversity of citizenship between the parties and an adequate jurisdictional allegation.
The court explained that a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its members. Therefore, a pleading relying on diversity jurisdiction must identify the citizenship of every person or entity that is a member of the limited liability company. If a member is a corporation, the pleading must identify both the corporation’s state of incorporation and its principal place of business.
The court had previously ordered William Collier, Jr. to amend his complaint to allege the citizenship of each person or entity comprising Jack Transport, LLC, including the required information for any corporate member. Collier amended the complaint, but the court found that it still did not allege the citizenship of each of Jack Transport’s members.
Ruling
The court ordered Jack Transport, LLC to amend the notice of removal within 20 days to allege the citizenship of each person or entity comprising the company, including the state of incorporation and principal place of business of any corporate member. The court stated that, if Jack Transport could not truthfully allege complete diversity by the deadline, the action would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. The order did not dismiss the action at that time.
Judge
The order was signed by United States District Judge Alison J. Nathan.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.