Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. v. Hajjar
- Rochon
- 1:22-cv-08269
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Shanghai Fosun v. Hajjar, Judge Rochon ordered citizenship allegations, denied arbitration confirmation without prejudice, and required corrected service filings.
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. had to amend its petition to allege the parties’ citizenship, correct its proof of service, serve the order, and file proof of service. The respondents were affected by the additional service requirement. The court did not decide whether to confirm the arbitration award.
What happened
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. v. Hajjar concerns a petition to confirm an arbitration award. Shanghai Fosun claimed diversity jurisdiction, but the court found that it had not alleged the citizenship of all parties, including the members of its limited liability company respondents.
The court ordered Shanghai Fosun to amend its petition by October 14, 2022, to provide the missing citizenship information. If it could not show complete diversity, the action might be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The court also denied the motion to confirm the arbitration award without prejudice to refiling after jurisdiction was established.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon additionally required Shanghai Fosun to file a corrected affidavit showing that all documents served on the other respondents were also served on John Hajjar, and to serve the order on the respondents and file proof of service by October 11, 2022.
The detailed version
- Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. v. Hajjar · No. 1:22-cv-08269
- Rochon
- Oct. 5, 2022
Background
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd. filed a petition on September 28, 2022, seeking confirmation of an arbitration award. It alleged that the court had diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The petition alleged that Shanghai Fosun was a limited liability company formed under the law of the People’s Republic of China with its principal place of business in Shanghai, China. It alleged that John Hajjar was a New Jersey resident, that Sovereign Medical Services, Inc. was organized under Delaware law with its principal place of business in New Jersey, and that Sovereign Capital Holdings, LLC was a Delaware limited liability company wholly owned by Hajjar with its principal place of business in New Jersey.
Jurisdictional Deficiency
The court explained that a limited liability company is a citizen of every state where its members are citizens. The place where an LLC is organized and its principal place of business do not establish its citizenship for diversity purposes. The court also explained that an individual’s citizenship depends on domicile—the person’s fixed home and principal establishment—not merely residence. The court found that Shanghai Fosun had failed to allege the citizenship of all parties, including each constituent member of any limited liability company.
Orders
The court ordered Shanghai Fosun to amend its petition by October 14, 2022, to allege the citizenship of all parties. If Shanghai Fosun could not amend the petition to establish complete diversity, the action might be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. Judge Jennifer L. Rochon denied Shanghai Fosun’s motion to confirm the arbitration award without prejudice to refiling after the court was satisfied that it had subject-matter jurisdiction.
The court also found that the affidavit of service on Hajjar did not specify that all documents served on Sovereign Medical Services, Inc. and Sovereign Capital Holdings, LLC had been served on him. It ordered Shanghai Fosun to file a corrected affidavit by October 11, 2022. Shanghai Fosun also had to serve the order on the respondents and file proof of that service by the same date.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.