Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company v. Bar Bakers, LLC
- Analisa Torres
- 1:19-cv-09136
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Starr v. Bar Bakers, Judge Torres adjourned the initial conference and ordered evidence addressing possible diversity-jurisdiction problems.
Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company and Bar Bakers, LLC were directly affected by the jurisdiction-related evidence schedule and adjourned conference; the order also concerns the third-party defendants Berkley Assurance Company and Insurgent Brands, LLC named in the caption.
What happened
Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company v. Bar Bakers, LLC concerns a possible problem with the court’s authority to hear the case because the parties may not be citizens of different states. Bar Bakers raised the issue after filing its answer, counterclaim, and third-party complaint.
Bar Bakers argued that Gary Jacobs, whom it said was a member and New York resident, could affect whether the parties were citizens of different states. Starr responded that Jacobs was not identified as a member in Bar Bakers’ public filings or website and argued that residence alone does not establish citizenship for this purpose.
Judge Analisa Torres was not persuaded that the parties’ arguments showed a lack of complete diversity, but she ordered Bar Bakers to submit evidence about Jacobs’s domicile and Starr to respond. She also adjourned the initial pretrial conference from December 3 to December 18, 2019.
The detailed version
- Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company v. Bar Bakers, LLC · No. 1:19-cv-09136
- Analisa Torres
- Nov. 26, 2019
Background
Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company brought the action against Bar Bakers, LLC. Bar Bakers later filed an answer, counterclaim, and third-party complaint naming Starr as counterclaim-defendant and Berkley Assurance Company and Insurgent Brands, LLC as third-party defendants.
Jurisdiction issue
Bar Bakers raised a potential issue under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), the statute governing diversity jurisdiction. It argued that complete diversity might be lacking because Gary Jacobs was allegedly a member of Bar Bakers and a resident of New York.
Starr responded that Jacobs was not listed as a member in Bar Bakers’ public filings or as an owner on its website. Starr also argued that diversity jurisdiction is assessed when the action begins, that an individual’s citizenship depends on domicile, and that alleging residence alone is legally insufficient. The court stated that it was not persuaded by Bar Bakers’ arguments that complete diversity might be lacking.
Order
The court did not finally resolve the jurisdiction issue in this order. To address the issue before the initial pretrial conference, it adjourned that conference from December 3, 2019, to December 18, 2019, at 11:40 a.m. It ordered Bar Bakers to submit by December 4 any evidence supporting its claim that Jacobs was domiciled in New York, and ordered Starr to respond by December 11. Judge Analisa Torres issued the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.