Greenberg v. Vector Media, LLC
- Paul Engelmayer
- 1:20-cv-09853
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Greenberg v. Vector Media, LLC, Judge Engelmayer ordered an amended complaint to establish LLC-member citizenship for diversity jurisdiction.
Ian Greenberg must provide the missing allegations about Vector Media, LLC’s members to establish federal jurisdiction. Vector Media, LLC is affected because its members’ citizenships determine whether diversity jurisdiction exists.
What happened
In Greenberg v. Vector Media, LLC, Ian Greenberg relied on the parties’ different citizenships as the only basis for federal jurisdiction. He identified Vector Media as a New York limited liability company but did not identify the citizenship of its members.
The court explained that an LLC has the citizenship of each member. It required Greenberg to file an amended complaint identifying the citizenship of individual members and the incorporation and principal business locations of any corporate members.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer granted Greenberg permission to amend by December 8, 2020. The court warned that if Greenberg could not truthfully show complete diversity, it would dismiss the complaint without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction; the order did not decide the underlying dispute.
The detailed version
- Greenberg v. Vector Media, LLC · No. 1:20-cv-09853
- Paul Engelmayer
- Nov. 24, 2020
Background
Ian Greenberg filed the complaint on November 23, 2020. The complaint asserted diversity of citizenship as the sole basis for federal subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning the federal court’s power to hear the case based on the parties’ citizenships.
The court observed that Vector Media, LLC is a limited liability company. For diversity purposes, an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. Although the complaint alleged that Vector Media was organized under New York law and had its principal place of business in New York, it did not allege the citizenship of the LLC’s members.
Required Amendment
The court required Greenberg to file an amended complaint alleging:
- the citizenship of each natural person who is a member of the LLC; and - the place of incorporation and principal place of business of each corporate entity that is a member of the LLC.
The court stated that if Greenberg could not truthfully allege complete diversity based on the citizenship of every constituent person or entity, the complaint would be dismissed, without prejudice, for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
Ruling
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer granted Greenberg leave to amend under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 15(a)(2), setting a deadline of December 8, 2020. The order did not dismiss the complaint and did not decide the parties’ underlying dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.