Dahra Engineering & Security Services LLC v. L3 Security & Detection Systems
- Jesse Furman
- 1:20-cv-02172
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Dahra Engineering v. L3 Security, Judge Furman ordered more citizenship allegations before deciding whether federal jurisdiction exists.
Dahra Engineering & Security Services LLC must provide additional allegations about its members and their citizenship. The action against L3 Security & Detection Systems could be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Dahra cannot truthfully establish complete diversity.
What happened
Dahra Engineering & Security Services LLC sued L3 Security & Detection Systems in federal court based on diversity of citizenship. Dahra alleged that it was a citizen of Oman and that L3 was incorporated in Delaware and had its principal place of business in New York.
Judge Furman explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of all its members. The complaint did not identify Dahra’s members, so it did not establish that the parties were completely diverse.
Judge Furman ordered Dahra to amend its complaint by March 19, 2020, to allege the citizenship of every person or entity making up the LLC. He stated that the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Dahra could not truthfully allege complete diversity.
The detailed version
- Dahra Engineering & Security Services LLC v. L3 Security & Detection Systems · No. 1:20-cv-02172
- Jesse Furman
- Mar. 12, 2020
Background
Dahra Engineering & Security Services LLC brought the action against L3 Security & Detection Systems and invoked federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Dahra alleged that it was a citizen of the Sultanate of Oman. It alleged that L3 was incorporated under Delaware law and had its principal place of business in New York.
Jurisdictional Defect
The court explained that a limited liability company is considered a citizen of every state of which its members are citizens. A complaint relying on diversity jurisdiction therefore must identify each member of the LLC and allege the required citizenship information for those members. The complaint did not identify each member of Dahra Engineering & Security Services LLC and therefore did not establish complete diversity.
Order
Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered Dahra to amend its complaint by March 19, 2020. The amended complaint must allege the citizenship of each person or entity making up Dahra, including the residency of any individual member and the state of incorporation and principal place of business of any corporate entity. The court stated that, if Dahra could not truthfully allege complete diversity by that date, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice to either party. The order did not itself dismiss the complaint.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.