Hoffman International, Inc. v. Terex USA, LLC
- Analisa Torres
- 1:20-cv-08461
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Hoffman International v. Terex USA, Judge Torres ordered an amendment alleging Terex’s members’ citizenship or warned of dismissal for lacking jurisdiction.
Hoffman International, Inc. must amend its pleading to allege the citizenship of each constituent person or entity of Terex USA, LLC. The complaint may be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction if it does not do so truthfully by October 29, 2020.
What happened
Hoffman International, Inc. sued Terex USA, LLC, relying on diversity jurisdiction, which requires the parties to be citizens of different states.
The court said that, if Terex is a limited liability company, the complaint must identify the citizenship of every person or entity that belongs to it. Hoffman International had until October 29, 2020, to amend its pleading.
Judge Analisa Torres ordered the amendment and said the complaint will be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction if Hoffman International does not truthfully allege complete diversity based on the citizenship of each LLC member.
The detailed version
- Hoffman International, Inc. v. Terex USA, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-08461
- Analisa Torres
- Oct. 15, 2020
Background
Hoffman International, Inc. brought the action against Terex USA, LLC, and invoked diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The order does not describe the underlying claims or the merits of the dispute.
Jurisdictional pleading requirement
The court explained that if Terex USA is a limited liability company, the complaint must allege the citizenship of each of its members. For members that are individuals, the pleading must identify their citizenship. For members that are corporations, it must identify their place of incorporation and principal place of business. The court cited the rule that, for diversity-jurisdiction purposes, a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its members.
Order
The court ordered Hoffman International to amend its pleading by October 29, 2020, to allege the citizenship of every constituent person or entity. The court stated that, if Hoffman International failed to amend by that date to truthfully allege complete diversity, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. This was a jurisdictional pleading order; the court did not decide the underlying dispute.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.