Nebari Holdings, LLC v. Tagiuk Gold, LLC
- Lewis Liman
- 1:19-cv-11923
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Nebari Holdings v. Tagiuk Gold, Judge Liman ordered a limited citizenship inquiry and allowed amendment because the complaint inadequately alleged diversity jurisdiction.
Nebari Holdings, LLC, Tagiuk Gold, LLC, and Andrew Lee. The order requires further information about Tagiuk Gold’s members and citizenship and gives Nebari Holdings an opportunity to amend its complaint.
What happened
Nebari Holdings, LLC v. Tagiuk Gold, LLC concerns whether the complaint adequately showed that the federal court could hear the dispute based on the parties’ citizenship.
Because both limited liability companies’ citizenship depends on their members, the court allowed a limited written question to identify the members of Tagiuk Gold and their citizenship by March 18, 2020. Nebari Holdings could file an amended complaint by May 18, 2020.
Judge Lewis J. Liman did not dismiss the case in this order. He warned that the case will be dismissed if the amended complaint does not properly establish the court’s power to hear it, and he postponed the defendants’ deadline to answer or seek dismissal.
The detailed version
- Nebari Holdings, LLC v. Tagiuk Gold, LLC · No. 1:19-cv-11923
- Lewis Liman
- Mar. 4, 2020
Background
Nebari Holdings, LLC sued Tagiuk Gold, LLC and Andrew Lee. The complaint relied on diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, which allows a federal court to hear certain disputes involving parties who are citizens of different states.
Jurisdictional Issue
The court concluded that the complaint appeared deficient because it did not allege the citizenship of either limited liability company. For an LLC, citizenship depends on the citizenship of its members. The court therefore authorized a limited interrogatory—a written question used to obtain information in a lawsuit—to identify the members of Tagiuk Gold and their citizenship. That interrogatory had to be served by March 18, 2020.
Ruling and Next Steps
The court gave Nebari Holdings permission to file an amended complaint by May 18, 2020. It stated that the case will be dismissed if Nebari Holdings does not file an amended pleading that properly alleges a basis for subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the court’s legal authority to hear the case. The court also postponed any defendant’s deadline to answer or move to dismiss until further order. Judge Lewis J. Liman did not decide the underlying dispute in this order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.