Taralashvili v. Melvin
- Andrew Krause
- 7:22-cv-04208
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Taralashvili v. Melvin, Judge Briccetti ordered plaintiff’s counsel to explain the LLC defendant’s citizenship so the court could assess diversity jurisdiction.
The order directly affects Manana Taralashvili’s counsel, who was required to provide information about Plummer Enterprises LLC’s members and citizenship. It also affects the parties because the court had not yet determined whether federal diversity jurisdiction exists.
What happened
In Taralashvili v. Melvin, Manana Taralashvili sued Tyree Latwan Melvin and Plummer Enterprises LLC, relying on diversity jurisdiction, which allows certain disputes between citizens of different states to be heard in federal court.
The court explained that an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. Although the complaint alleged that Plummer Enterprises LLC was an Arizona LLC, it did not identify the citizenship of each member.
The court ordered plaintiff’s counsel to submit a detailed letter by May 31, 2022, explaining the LLC’s citizenship so the court could determine whether it had jurisdiction. Judge Vincent L. Briccetti signed the order.
The detailed version
- Taralashvili v. Melvin · No. 7:22-cv-04208
- Andrew Krause
- May 24, 2022
Background
Manana Taralashvili brought this action against Tyree Latwan Melvin and Plummer Enterprises LLC. The complaint invoked federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
Jurisdictional issue
Diversity jurisdiction generally requires complete diversity: every plaintiff must be a citizen of a different state from every defendant. For diversity purposes, a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its individual or entity members.
The complaint alleged that Plummer Enterprises LLC was a domestic LLC authorized and existing under Arizona law. The court held that this allegation did not identify the citizenship of each individual or entity member of the LLC. The opinion does not state the citizenship of the LLC’s members or decide whether complete diversity exists.
Order
The court ordered plaintiff’s counsel to submit, by May 31, 2022, a letter explaining in detail the citizenship of Plummer Enterprises LLC. The explanation was required so the court could determine whether it had subject-matter jurisdiction. The order did not resolve the underlying dispute between the parties. Judge Vincent L. Briccetti signed the order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.