Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP v. Pantheon Environmental, LLC
- Robert Lehrburger
- 1:20-cv-02415
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP v. Pantheon Environmental, LLC, Judge Torres ordered citizenship details and warned that failure could lead to dismissal.
Olshan was required to amend its pleading by April 3, 2020. Pantheon and its members or constituent entities were affected because their citizenship had to be identified for the court to evaluate diversity jurisdiction. The court warned that failure to provide the required information could result in dismissal.
What happened
Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP sued Pantheon Environmental, LLC, also known as Pantheon Environmental, Inc., and Albert McLelland, Gentry Beach, Elizabeth Schick, and Eric Schick. Olshan based federal jurisdiction on the parties’ citizenship.
The court said Olshan, as a limited liability partnership, had to identify the citizenship of each general and limited partner. If Pantheon was a limited liability company, Olshan also had to identify the citizenship of each person or entity that belonged to it.
The court ordered Olshan to amend its pleading by April 3, 2020, to provide that information. The order warned that failing to do so could lead to dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The order was issued by Judge Analisa Torres.
The detailed version
- Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP v. Pantheon Environmental, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-02415
- Robert Lehrburger
- Mar. 23, 2020
Background
Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP brought the action against Pantheon Environmental, LLC, also known as Pantheon Environmental, Inc., Albert McLelland, Gentry Beach, Elizabeth Schick, and Eric Schick. The complaint invoked diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, which allows a federal court to hear certain cases based on the parties’ citizenship.
Jurisdictional Deficiencies
The court explained that a limited liability partnership has the citizenship of each of its general and limited partners. The complaint therefore had to allege the citizenship of each of Olshan’s general and limited partners.
The court further explained that, if Pantheon was a limited liability company, its citizenship would depend on the citizenship of each of its members. The complaint therefore also had to allege the citizenship of Pantheon’s constituent persons or entities. For individual members, the pleading needed to identify their citizenship; for corporate members, it needed to identify their place of incorporation and principal place of business.
Order
The court ordered Olshan to amend its pleading by April 3, 2020, to allege both sets of citizenship information: (1) the citizenship of each of its general and limited partners, and (2) the citizenship of each of Pantheon’s constituent persons or entities. The court stated that failure to provide the information may result in dismissal of the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Judge Analisa Torres issued the order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.