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
In Ford v. Empress Ambulance Service, Judge Engelmayer ordered citizenship details to support federal jurisdiction or face dismissal.
Kavon Ford and Empress Ambulance Service LLC; the order concerns whether the federal court has subject-matter jurisdiction over Ford's action.
What happened
Kavon Ford sued Empress Ambulance Service LLC in federal court. The court had directed Ford to provide information about the citizenship of every person or entity that owns membership in the limited liability company.
Ford filed an amended complaint, but it still did not provide all the required information. Specifically, it did not state the citizenship of individual members or the incorporation state and principal business location of corporate members.
Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ordered Ford to send the court a letter detailing that citizenship by October 24, 2022. The court warned that it would dismiss the action for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Ford did not do so.
The detailed version
- Ford v. Empress Ambulance Service LLC d/b/a Empress EMS · No. 7:22-cv-08679
- Kenneth Karas
- Oct. 21, 2022
Background
The court had previously directed Plaintiff Kavon Ford to amend his pleading to allege the citizenship of each constituent person or entity of Defendant Empress Ambulance Service LLC. The order relied on the rule that, for federal diversity jurisdiction, a limited liability company has the citizenship of each of its members.
Ford filed an amended complaint on October 20, 2022. The court found that the amended complaint still did not allege the citizenship of natural persons who were members of the limited liability company, or the place of incorporation and principal place of business of corporate entities that were members.
Order
The court ordered Ford to submit a letter detailing the citizenship of each constituent person or entity of Empress Ambulance Service LLC by October 24, 2022. It warned that the action would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Ford did not provide the information. The opinion does not state that the court had yet dismissed the action or otherwise resolve the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.