Alkholi v. Macklowe
- P. Castel
- 1:17-cv-00016
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Alkholi v. Macklowe, Judge Castel required citizenship information because the complaint did not establish federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship.
The plaintiffs and Macklowe Investment Properties, LLC were affected: the LLC had to provide citizenship information, and both parties had to state whether they wanted mediation.
What happened
In Alkholi v. Macklowe, the plaintiffs were identified as citizens of Saudi Arabia, and the case relied on federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship. The defendant was Macklowe Investment Properties, LLC, a limited liability company.
The complaint did not identify the citizenship of every member of that company. That information was necessary because a foreign member could prevent the court from hearing the case on this jurisdictional basis.
Judge Castel ordered Macklowe Investment Properties, LLC to file, within 14 days, an affidavit stating the citizenship of each member as of January 3, 2017. The judge also directed each party to say whether it wanted settlement discussions with a mediator. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Alkholi v. Macklowe · No. 1:17-cv-00016
- P. Castel
- Apr. 29, 2020
Background
The plaintiffs, Dr. Hamza B. Alkholi and Ahmed Halawani, were identified as citizens of Saudi Arabia. They sued Macklowe Investment Properties, LLC, and the complaint relied on diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Diversity jurisdiction is a form of federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship and the amount in controversy.
Jurisdictional Issue
The court explained that a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its members. The complaint did not state the citizenship of all members of Macklowe Investment Properties, LLC. Because the plaintiffs were foreign citizens, a foreign member of the defendant LLC could place foreign citizens on both sides of the case and eliminate diversity jurisdiction. The court therefore could not determine from the complaint whether diversity jurisdiction existed.
Order
Judge Castel ordered Macklowe Investment Properties, LLC to file an affidavit within 14 days stating the citizenship of each LLC member as of January 3, 2017, the date the complaint was filed. The court also ordered each party, within the same 14-day period, to fax Chambers a letter stating whether it wished to participate in settlement discussions before a mediator. The opinion does not dismiss the case or decide the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.