CT Espresso LLC v. Lavazza Premium Coffees Corp.
- Denise Cote
- 1:22-cv-00377
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 4
In CT Espresso LLC v. Lavazza Premium Coffees Corp., Judge Broderick ordered jurisdictional amendments because the LLC did not identify its members’ citizenship.
CT Espresso LLC must amend its complaint and explain the basis for federal subject-matter jurisdiction within 14 days; the order states that failure to comply will result in dismissal. The defendants are affected because the case must first satisfy the jurisdictional pleading requirements.
What happened
In CT Espresso LLC v. Lavazza Premium Coffees Corp., the plaintiff claimed that federal jurisdiction existed because the parties were citizens of different states and the amount in dispute exceeded $75,000. The complaint described CT Espresso as a corporation, even though its name and Connecticut business records indicated that it was a limited liability company.
The court explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of each of its members, not simply on where the LLC was formed or has its business. CT Espresso’s complaint did not identify its members or allege their citizenship, so the court found that the complaint did not adequately establish complete diversity of citizenship.
Judge Broderick ordered CT Espresso to file an amended complaint within 14 days and to file a letter of no more than two pages explaining how the allegations establish federal jurisdiction. The order states that failure to do so will result in dismissal of the action.
The detailed version
- CT Espresso LLC v. Lavazza Premium Coffees Corp. · No. 1:22-cv-00377
- Denise Cote
- June 21, 2022
Background
CT Espresso LLC sued Lavazza Premium Coffees Corp., Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., and John Does 1–10. The complaint asserted federal jurisdiction under the diversity-of-citizenship statute, which generally requires more than $75,000 in controversy and complete diversity between all plaintiffs and defendants.
The complaint alleged that CT Espresso was a corporation organized under Connecticut law with a place of business in Florida. It alleged that Lavazza Premium Coffees Corp. was a Delaware corporation with its principal place of business in New York and that Luigi Lavazza S.p.A. was organized under Italian law with its principal place of business in Italy.
Jurisdictional Defect
The court explained that corporations are citizens of their states of incorporation and principal places of business. A limited liability company, by contrast, has the citizenship of each of its members. The court noted that CT Espresso’s name indicated that it was an LLC, and that a search of Connecticut’s official business records also identified it as an LLC. Because the complaint did not identify CT Espresso’s members or allege their citizenship, it did not adequately plead the facts needed to establish complete diversity.
Order
The court ordered CT Espresso to file an amended complaint curing the jurisdictional defects within 14 days of the order. CT Espresso also had to file a letter of no more than two pages explaining how its allegations establish subject-matter jurisdiction. The order states that failure to comply will result in dismissal of the action. The court did not decide the underlying claims.
Disposition
The court issued an order requiring amendment and jurisdictional clarification; it did not dismiss the action in this order.
Read the full 4-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.