Bunn v. Dash
- Vyskocil
- 1:19-cv-11804
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bunn v. Dash, Judge Vyskocil ordered jurisdictional allegations amended before the case could proceed.
Monique Bunn must amend the complaint to provide the required citizenship information by May 4, 2020. The defendants' planned motion to vacate the default and related briefing are conditional on that filing and on establishing subject-matter jurisdiction.
What happened
In Bunn v. Dash, Monique Bunn sued Damon Anthony Dash, Damon Dash Studios, Poppington LLC, and Raquel Horn. The court found that the complaint did not adequately allege the citizenship of the members of the two limited liability company defendants, information needed to establish federal diversity jurisdiction.
The court ordered Bunn to file an amended complaint by May 4, 2020, identifying each entity's members and each member's state or states of citizenship. The court warned that the case would be dismissed if Bunn could not properly establish federal subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the court's legal power to hear the case.
Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil also adjourned the April 21 teleconference indefinitely. If Bunn filed the amended complaint on time, the defendants were ordered to file their planned motion to undo the default, followed by briefing; the court would then decide whether to vacate the default or hold a hearing on a default judgment, but only if jurisdiction was first established.
The detailed version
- Bunn v. Dash · No. 1:19-cv-11804
- Vyskocil
- Apr. 17, 2020
Background
Monique Bunn is the plaintiff, and the defendants are Damon Anthony Dash, Damon Dash Studios, Poppington LLC, and Raquel Horn. After reviewing the filings, the court identified a question about subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the court's authority to hear the case.
The complaint alleged that Poppington LLC was a New York limited liability company, but the court explained that an LLC's citizenship for diversity-jurisdiction purposes depends on the citizenship of all its members. The complaint did not identify all of Poppington LLC's members or their citizenship. The court found the allegations concerning Damon Dash Studios similarly defective.
Orders
The court ordered Bunn to file an amended complaint by May 4, 2020. The amended complaint must allege the membership of both entity defendants and the state or states of citizenship of each member. The court stated that the action would be dismissed if Bunn could not properly and specifically plead the existence of subject-matter jurisdiction.
The court also adjourned indefinitely the teleconference scheduled for April 21,
- If Bunn filed an amended pleading by May 4, the defendants were ordered to file their contemplated motion to vacate the default and a supporting memorandum by May
- Bunn's response was due June 15, and the defendants' reply was due June
- The court would decide, based on that briefing, whether to vacate the default or hold a default-judgment hearing, but only if Bunn first established subject-matter jurisdiction.
What the Order Did Not Decide
The order did not decide the merits of Bunn's claims or rule on the contemplated motion to vacate the default. It addressed only the need for adequate jurisdictional allegations and set conditional future deadlines. Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil signed the order on April 17, 2020.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.