National Surety Corporation v. The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut
- Analisa Torres
- 1:22-cv-06623
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
National Surety v. Travelers: Judge Torres ordered an amended complaint to properly allege citizenship needed for federal diversity jurisdiction.
National Surety Corporation must amend its complaint to provide the citizenship information required to establish diversity jurisdiction; Travelers and Nussli are affected because the case may be dismissed if that amendment is not made.
What happened
In National Surety Corporation v. The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut, National Surety sued Travelers and Nussli (US), LLC, claiming federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship. The complaint identified some citizenship information but did not provide enough information about Nussli’s members.
The court explained that a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its members. The complaint therefore had to identify the citizenship of every individual member and, for any corporate member, its state of incorporation and principal place of business.
By August 25, 2022, National Surety had to amend its complaint to provide that information and truthfully allege complete diversity. Judge Analisa Torres warned that if it did not do so, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
The detailed version
- National Surety Corporation v. The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut · No. 1:22-cv-06623
- Analisa Torres
- Aug. 19, 2022
Background
National Surety Corporation brought the action against The Travelers Indemnity Company of Connecticut and Nussli (US), LLC. National Surety invoked federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
The complaint alleged that National Surety was incorporated in Delaware and had its principal place of business and statutory home office in Illinois. It alleged that Travelers was incorporated in Connecticut. It alleged that Nussli was a limited liability company organized under Indiana law with its principal place of business in New York.
Jurisdictional Deficiency
The court held that these allegations were insufficient to establish diversity jurisdiction. For diversity purposes, a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its members. The complaint therefore had to identify the citizenship of every individual member of Nussli and, for any corporate member, that entity’s place of incorporation and principal place of business.
Order
The court ordered National Surety to amend its pleading by August 25, 2022, to allege the citizenship of each constituent person or entity. The court stated that if National Surety failed to amend by that date to truthfully allege complete diversity based on the citizenship of Nussli’s members, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. Judge Analisa Torres did not dismiss the complaint in this order.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.