Priority Institutional Partner Services, LLC v. Citizens Bank, N.A.
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:20-cv-09984
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Priority Institutional Partner Services v. Citizens Bank, Judge Schofield summarily remanded the matter because the removal notice was procedurally defective.
Priority Institutional Partner Services, LLC and Citizens Bank, N.A.; the case was returned to New York state court because Citizens Bank’s removal notice did not adequately allege the required citizenship information.
What happened
Priority Institutional Partner Services, LLC sued Citizens Bank, N.A. in state court, and Citizens Bank filed a notice removing the case to federal court. The opinion says the notice did not identify the citizenships of the LLC’s members at the relevant times or state how long Citizens Bank had been a citizen of Rhode Island.
The court explained that a notice relying on diversity jurisdiction must allege the parties’ citizenship when the lawsuit began and when the case was removed. It also noted that an LLC generally has the citizenship of each of its members.
Judge Lorna G. Schofield ruled that the notice was procedurally defective and summarily remanded the matter to state court. She directed the clerk to send a certified copy of the order to the state court and close the federal case.
The detailed version
- Priority Institutional Partner Services, LLC v. Citizens Bank, N.A. · No. 1:20-cv-09984
- Lorna Schofield
- Dec. 2, 2020
Background
Citizens Bank, N.A. filed a notice of removal on November 27, 2020, seeking to move the case from state court to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The opinion states that the notice failed to allege the citizenships of the members of Priority Institutional Partner Services, LLC both when the state-court action began and when Citizens Bank removed it. The notice also failed to allege the period during which Citizens Bank had been a citizen of Rhode Island.
Legal standard
The court explained that when diversity of citizenship is the sole basis for federal removal jurisdiction, diversity must exist both when the original state-court action is filed and when removal is sought. The court also stated that a limited liability company generally has the citizenship of each of its members. A federal district court may remand a case on its own for a procedural defect in the notice of removal if it acts within 30 days after the notice is filed.
Ruling
The court held that Citizens Bank’s notice of removal was procedurally defective. Judge Lorna G. Schofield ordered that the matter be summarily remanded to state court. Under the order, the clerk was directed to mail a certified copy of the opinion and order to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, and to close the federal case.
Disposition
The matter was summarily remanded to state court. The opinion does not state the citizenships of the LLC’s members or otherwise resolve the underlying dispute between the parties.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.