Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Melinta Therapeutics, LLC
- Rochon
- 1:22-cv-00915
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
Cumberland Pharmaceuticals v. Melinta Therapeutics: Judge Rochon ordered sworn information about limited partners’ citizenship to address diversity jurisdiction.
Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc., Melinta Therapeutics, LLC, Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P., Deerfield Private Design Fund IV, L.P., and the limited partners whose citizenship the parties were ordered to identify.
What happened
In Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Melinta Therapeutics, LLC, the parties relied on diversity of citizenship as the basis for federal jurisdiction. Melinta has two members, Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P. and Deerfield Private Design Fund IV, L.P.
Cumberland said it could not determine the identities of the funds’ limited partners from publicly available information. Because a limited liability partnership is considered a citizen of every state where its members are citizens, the court found that the complaint and the parties’ joint letter did not adequately allege the limited partners’ citizenship.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered the parties to file a joint letter by October 25, 2022, supported by one or more sworn affidavits, stating the citizenship of the limited partners in both Deerfield funds. The order addressed whether the court had diversity jurisdiction and did not decide the underlying dispute.
The detailed version
- Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. v. Melinta Therapeutics, LLC · No. 1:22-cv-00915
- Rochon
- Oct. 19, 2022
Background
The parties asserted that federal jurisdiction was proper under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 because of diversity of citizenship. Melinta Therapeutics, LLC has two members: Deerfield Private Design Fund III, L.P. and Deerfield Private Design Fund IV, L.P. Cumberland reported that it could not determine from publicly available information the identities of the limited partners of either fund.
Jurisdictional issue
For diversity jurisdiction, the party invoking federal jurisdiction must show that complete diversity exists. The court explained that a limited liability partnership is treated as a citizen of every state in which its general and limited partners are citizens. The complaint and the parties’ joint letter did not sufficiently allege the citizenship of the limited partners of Deerfield Fund III and Deerfield Fund IV.
Order
The court ordered the parties to file, by October 25, 2022, a joint letter on the electronic docket supported by one or more sworn affidavits. The filing must allege the citizenship of the limited partners of both Deerfield funds. This was a jurisdictional information-gathering order; the opinion did not resolve the parties’ underlying dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.