Pt Aurora Indonesia Trading v. USARM Group LLC
- Edgardo Ramos
- 1:20-cv-07045
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Pt Aurora Indonesia Trading v. USARM Group LLC, Judge Ramos ordered plaintiffs to explain federal jurisdiction or amend their complaint.
PT Aurora Indonesia Trading and Jinmaa Trading Limited were required to explain the basis for federal jurisdiction or file an amended complaint by September 15, 2020. USARM Group LLC was affected because the court was considering whether the case could proceed in federal court.
What happened
In Pt Aurora Indonesia Trading and Jinmaa Trading Limited v. USARM Group LLC, the court found that the complaint did not identify the citizenship of USARM Group LLC’s members or allege a federal claim. The court explained that federal diversity jurisdiction requires all parties to have different citizenships, and an LLC takes the citizenship of its members.
The court ordered the plaintiffs to submit a declaration explaining why the complaint should not be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, or alternatively to file an amended complaint that properly states the basis for federal jurisdiction. The deadline was September 15, 2020.
Judge Edgardo Ramos issued this order. The court did not dismiss the complaint in this order; it required the plaintiffs to address the jurisdictional problems or amend the complaint.
The detailed version
- Pt Aurora Indonesia Trading v. USARM Group LLC · No. 1:20-cv-07045
- Edgardo Ramos
- Sept. 1, 2020
Background
PT Aurora Indonesia Trading and Jinmaa Trading Limited sued USARM Group LLC in the Southern District of New York. The opinion does not describe the underlying dispute or identify the legal claims in detail.
Jurisdictional issue
The court stated that it has an independent duty to confirm subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning its legal authority to hear the case. The complaint did not allege the citizenship of USARM Group LLC’s members. Because a limited liability company has the citizenship of its members, that information was necessary to determine whether the parties were completely diverse for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. The complaint also did not allege a federal cause of action.
Order
The court ordered the plaintiffs to show cause, by declaration, why the complaint should not be dismissed on the court’s own initiative for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Alternatively, the plaintiffs could file an amended complaint that properly alleged the basis for federal jurisdiction under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a). The deadline was September 15, 2020. Judge Edgardo Ramos did not dismiss the complaint in this order; the order required the plaintiffs to respond or amend.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.