Colon v. Old Republic Insurance Company
- Jesse Furman
- 1:22-cv-00433
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Colon v. Old Republic Insurance Company, Judge Furman ordered defendants to provide missing LLC citizenship information or face remand.
The removing defendants—Old Republic Insurance Company, Riaser-NY, LLC, Uber Technologies, Inc., and Uber USA, LLC—must provide additional citizenship information or the case will be remanded. Jazlyn Colon’s counsel must file a notice of appearance after receiving the order.
What happened
Colon v. Old Republic Insurance Company was removed from New York state court to federal court based on the parties’ alleged citizenship. The removing defendants said federal jurisdiction existed because the parties were citizens of different states.
The court found that the removal notice did not provide the required citizenship information for two limited liability companies: Riaser-NY, LLC, and Uber USA, LLC. For an LLC, the court explained, the notice must identify the citizenship of every member and, for corporate members, the state of incorporation and principal place of business.
Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered the removing defendants to amend the notice by April 22, 2022, and to truthfully allege complete diversity if possible. If they could not do so, the court said the case would be sent back to the Supreme Court of New York, Bronx County. The defendants also had to serve the order on the plaintiff, and the plaintiff’s counsel had to file a notice of appearance.
The detailed version
- Colon v. Old Republic Insurance Company · No. 1:22-cv-00433
- Jesse Furman
- Apr. 13, 2022
Background
The defendants removed this action from the Supreme Court of New York, Bronx County, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The removing defendants were Old Republic Insurance Company, Riaser-NY, LLC, Uber Technologies, Inc., and Uber USA, LLC. They asserted that federal jurisdiction existed based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
The notice of removal alleged citizenship for the plaintiff and several defendants. It stated that Old Republic was a citizen of Pennsylvania and Illinois; Riaser-NY, LLC, was a citizen of Delaware and California; Uber Technologies, Inc., and Uber USA, LLC, were citizens of Delaware and California; Allstate Insurance Company was a citizen of Illinois; and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company was a citizen of Massachusetts. The notice also alleged that Jazlyn Colon was a citizen of New York.
Jurisdictional Deficiency
The court explained that a limited liability company is treated as a citizen of every state where its members are citizens. Therefore, a removal notice based on diversity jurisdiction must identify the citizenship of each natural-person or entity member of an LLC. If an LLC member is a corporation, the notice must provide the corporation’s state of incorporation and principal place of business.
The court held that the notice of removal did not provide this information for Riaser-NY, LLC, and Uber USA, LLC. The order did not itself decide whether complete diversity existed or remand the action immediately.
Order
The court ordered the removing defendants to amend the notice of removal by April 22, 2022, to allege the citizenship of every person or entity comprising the defendant LLCs, including the required corporate information. If the defendants could not truthfully allege complete diversity by that date, the action would be remanded to the Supreme Court of New York, Bronx County, without further notice.
The court also directed the defendants to serve the order on Jazlyn Colon within two business days and file proof of service. Colon’s counsel was directed to file a notice of appearance within two business days after service.
Disposition
The court ordered amendment of the notice of removal and set a conditional remand consequence. It did not enter a remand order in this opinion.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.