Stevens & Company, LLC v. Sinteppadon
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:22-cv-09401
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Stevens & Company v. Sinteppadon, Judge Schofield remanded the removed case to state court because the filings did not establish the parties’ citizenship or diversity jurisdiction.
Stevens & Company, LLC and Heather Sinteppadon. Their action was returned to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, and the federal case was closed.
What happened
Stevens & Company, LLC v. Sinteppadon reached federal court after Defendant Heather Sinteppadon filed a notice of removal. The notice said federal jurisdiction was based on the parties being citizens of different states.
The court found that the filings did not establish either party’s citizenship when the case was removed or when it was originally filed. For the limited liability company, the filings did not identify the citizenship of its members. For Sinteppadon, the filings alleged only residence in Washington, not domicile, which determines an individual’s citizenship for this purpose.
Judge Schofield ordered that the matter be remanded to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County. The clerk was directed to send that court a certified copy of the order and close the federal case.
The detailed version
- Stevens & Company, LLC v. Sinteppadon · No. 1:22-cv-09401
- Lorna Schofield
- Nov. 4, 2022
Background
Defendant Heather Sinteppadon filed a notice of removal on November 2, 2022, seeking to move the case from state court to federal court. The notice asserted diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1441(a) and 1332(a), which can allow a federal court to hear a case involving parties from different states.
Court’s Analysis
The court held that the notice and the state-court pleadings did not allege the citizenship of either party at the time of removal or when the lawsuit was filed. The pleadings described Stevens & Company, LLC as a New York limited liability company with its principal place of business in New York, but an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. The filings did not identify the citizenship of those members.
The filings described Sinteppadon as a Washington resident, but residence alone does not establish domicile. For diversity jurisdiction, an individual’s citizenship is based on domicile, and the filings did not allege Sinteppadon’s domicile. The court also noted that federal courts construe removal narrowly and resolve doubts against removal.
Disposition
The court ordered that the matter be remanded to state court. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c), the clerk was directed to mail a certified copy of the opinion and order to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County. The clerk was also directed to close the federal case.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.