535-545 Fee LLC v. NBA Media Ventures, LLC

Background

535-545 Fee LLC sued NBA Media Ventures, LLC and invoked federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The complaint alleged that the plaintiff was a citizen of New York and that the defendant was a citizen of New Jersey and Delaware.

Jurisdictional pleading requirement

The court explained that an LLC is considered a citizen of every state in which its members are citizens. A complaint relying on diversity jurisdiction must therefore identify the citizenship of the individuals who are members of an LLC, as well as the place of incorporation and principal place of business of corporate members. If an LLC is itself a member, the complaint must also identify the citizenship of that LLC’s members.

The complaint did not identify the members of either the plaintiff or defendant LLC. Instead, it relied on the companies’ business addresses and states of incorporation. The court stated that this did not properly establish diversity jurisdiction.

Order

The court ordered the plaintiff to amend its complaint on or before June 5, 2020, to allege the citizenship of each person or entity comprising both LLCs and the citizenship of all individual parties. The court did not dismiss the complaint in this order. It stated that, if the plaintiff could not truthfully allege complete diversity by that date, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. Judge Jesse M. Furman issued the order.