Corso, LLC v. Guess? Retail, Inc.
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:20-cv-06966
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Corso, LLC v. Guess? Retail, Inc., Judge Schofield summarily remanded the case because defendants’ removal notice was procedurally defective.
The order affected Corso, LLC and the defendants by sending the case back to state court and closing the federal case.
What happened
Corso, LLC v. Guess? Retail, Inc. began in state court, and the defendants filed a notice asking to move the case to federal court on August 27, 2020.
The notice did not state the citizenship of Corso, LLC’s members at the relevant times. It also did not state how long the defendants had been citizens of Delaware and California.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield ruled that the notice was procedurally defective and ordered the case summarily remanded to state court. She directed the Clerk of Court to send the state court a certified copy of the order and close the federal case.
The detailed version
- Corso, LLC v. Guess? Retail, Inc. · No. 1:20-cv-06966
- Lorna Schofield
- Aug. 31, 2020
Background
The defendants filed a notice of removal on August 27, 2020, seeking to bring the case from state court to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The opinion states that the notice did not allege the citizenship of the members of plaintiff Corso, LLC either when the action began or when the defendants sought removal. It also did not allege the period during which the defendants were citizens of Delaware and California.
Court’s Analysis
The court explained that, when diversity of citizenship is the basis for federal removal jurisdiction, diversity must exist both when the state-court action begins and when removal is sought. The court also explained that a limited liability company generally has the citizenship of each of its members for diversity-jurisdiction purposes. A federal district court may remand a case on its own for a procedural defect if it does so within 30 days after the notice of removal is filed.
Ruling
The court ordered that the matter be summarily remanded to state court, holding that the defendants’ notice of removal was procedurally defective. Judge Lorna G. Schofield directed the Clerk of Court to mail a certified copy of the opinion and order to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, and directed the Clerk to close the federal case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.