Wells Fargo Bank v. JTRE 240 East 54th Street LLC
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, as Trustee, for the Benefit of the Holders of COMM 2018-COR3 Mortgage Trust Commercial Mortgage Pass-Through Certificates, Series 2018-COR3 v. JTRE 240 East 54th Street LLC
- Jesse Furman
- 1:22-cv-01048
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Wells Fargo v. JTRE 240 East 54th Street, Judge Furman ordered a citizenship amendment before deciding whether diversity jurisdiction exists.
Wells Fargo must amend its complaint to provide the required citizenship information for JTRE 240 East 54th Street LLC. The order also states that the complaint will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Wells Fargo cannot truthfully allege complete diversity.
What happened
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association sued JTRE 240 East 54th Street LLC, claiming federal court jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship. The complaint alleged that Wells Fargo was a citizen of South Dakota and that JTRE was a citizen of New York and/or Connecticut.
The court explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of all its members. Because the complaint did not identify the citizenship of each person or entity making up JTRE, the court ordered Wells Fargo to amend the complaint by February 15, 2022.
If Wells Fargo could not truthfully allege complete diversity, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. Judge Jesse M. Furman did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Wells Fargo Bank v. JTRE 240 East 54th Street LLC · No. 1:22-cv-01048
- Jesse Furman
- Feb. 8, 2022
Background
Wells Fargo Bank, National Association brought the action against JTRE 240 East 54th Street LLC. The complaint invoked diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. It alleged that Wells Fargo was a citizen of South Dakota and that JTRE was a citizen of New York and/or Connecticut.
Jurisdictional pleading requirement
The court explained that a limited liability company is considered a citizen of every state in which its members are citizens. A complaint relying on diversity jurisdiction therefore must identify the citizenship of each natural-person member and, for entity members, the required incorporation, principal-business, and ownership information. The complaint did not provide the citizenship of each person or entity comprising JTRE.
Order
The court ordered Wells Fargo to amend its complaint by February 15, 2022, to allege the citizenship of each constituent person or entity comprising JTRE. The court stated that if Wells Fargo could not truthfully allege complete diversity of citizenship by that date, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. The order addressed the sufficiency of the jurisdictional allegations and did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.