Davila v. Intren LLC

Background

Marisol Davila sued Intren LLC and Brett William SparengerG in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. The defendants removed the action to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 24, 2022. They asserted federal jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, claiming that the parties were citizens of different states and that the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000.

Jurisdictional Defect

A defendant removing a case to federal court has the burden of showing that removal is proper. Diversity jurisdiction requires complete diversity, meaning that every defendant must be a citizen of a different state from every plaintiff. For a limited liability company, citizenship is determined by the citizenship of each member.

The court issued an order directing the defendants to explain why the case should not be remanded because the removal notice did not properly allege the citizenship of Intren LLC’s members. The defendants responded with evidence intended to show that more than $75,000 was in dispute, but they did not provide information about the citizenship of Intren LLC’s members. The opinion therefore states that the defendants had not established complete diversity or federal subject-matter jurisdiction.

Ruling

Because the defendants had not established subject-matter jurisdiction, Judge Gregory H. Woods remanded the matter to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. The Clerk of Court was directed to remand the matter without delay and close the federal case. The order did not decide the underlying claims.