Ford v. Empress Ambulance Service LLC d/b/a Empress EMS
- Kenneth Karas
- 7:22-cv-08679
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Ford v. Empress Ambulance Service LLC: Judge Engelmayer ordered Ford to clarify the LLC’s citizenship or face dismissal without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.
Kavon Ford must provide additional information about the citizenship of Empress Ambulance Service LLC’s members. If complete diversity cannot be truthfully alleged, Ford’s complaint will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, affecting the case against Empress.
What happened
In Ford v. Empress Ambulance Service LLC, Kavon Ford filed a complaint relying on diversity of citizenship to establish federal jurisdiction. The court explained that, for a limited liability company, the complaint must identify the citizenship of every member, including required information for any member that is a corporation.
The court ordered Ford to amend the complaint by October 20, 2022, to provide that information. The opinion did not decide the underlying dispute between Ford and Empress Ambulance Service LLC.
Judge Engelmayer stated that if Ford could not truthfully allege complete diversity, the complaint would be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The detailed version
- Ford v. Empress Ambulance Service LLC d/b/a Empress EMS · No. 7:22-cv-08679
- Kenneth Karas
- Oct. 17, 2022
Background
Kavon Ford invoked diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The complaint named Empress Ambulance Service LLC as the defendant.
Jurisdictional Issue
The court explained that if Empress is a limited liability company, the complaint must allege the citizenship of each of its members. For individual members, the complaint must identify their citizenship. For corporate members, it must identify the place of incorporation and principal place of business. The opinion stated that an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
Order
The court ordered Ford to amend the pleading by October 20, 2022, to allege the citizenship of every constituent person or entity of Empress. If Ford could not truthfully allege complete diversity based on that information, the court stated that the complaint would be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The order did not reach the merits of Ford’s underlying claims.
Judge
Paul A. Engelmayer, United States District Judge, issued and signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.