Wells Advance LLC v. Carpenter
- Rochon
- 1:22-cv-09997
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Wells Advance v. Carpenter, Judge Rochon gave Carpenter a final chance to establish diversity jurisdiction before remanding the case to state court.
Nicole L. Carpenter must provide sworn information establishing the citizenship of herself and every member in Wells Advance LLC’s ownership chain. If she does not comply by December 9, 2022, the action will be remanded to state court; the opinion does not resolve the underlying claims.
What happened
Wells Advance LLC v. Carpenter concerns Defendant Nicole L. Carpenter’s attempt to move the case from New York state court to federal court. The federal court required Carpenter to provide information showing that the parties were citizens of different states, which is necessary for diversity jurisdiction.
The court found Carpenter’s information incomplete. She did not identify every member of Wells Advance LLC or each member’s citizenship. She also gave conflicting information about her own residency and citizenship, referring to Texas in one filing and Arizona in another.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon gave Carpenter a final opportunity to submit sworn statements identifying the citizenship of every party by December 9, 2022. The court said it would remand the case to state court if she did not provide the required information by that deadline.
The detailed version
- Wells Advance LLC v. Carpenter · No. 1:22-cv-09997
- Rochon
- Dec. 6, 2022
Background
Nicole L. Carpenter removed Wells Advance LLC’s action from the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The federal court had previously ordered Carpenter to supplement her removal notice with sworn information establishing complete diversity of citizenship.
Complete diversity generally requires that all plaintiffs be citizens of different states from all defendants. For a limited liability company, citizenship depends on the citizenship of every member, including members farther down an ownership chain.
Court’s Analysis
The court found Carpenter’s supplemental filing insufficient for two reasons. First, Carpenter stated that all members of Wells Advance LLC were New York residents, but she did not identify every member. She described Ahron Stock as the only member or authorized person who filed and verified pleadings and signed affidavits, and Adam Bauer as the only member or authorized person listed to accept service. The court said those descriptions did not establish that Stock and Bauer were the LLC’s only members.
Second, Carpenter did not adequately establish her own domicile, meaning the state of her legal home for citizenship purposes. Her removal notice stated that she had an address in Texas and was therefore a Texas citizen. Her supplemental filing instead stated that she was a citizen and resident of Arizona. Because of these conflicting statements, the court could not determine her state citizenship.
Order
The court gave Carpenter a final opportunity to establish complete diversity. It ordered her to file, by December 9, 2022, a letter supported by one or more sworn affidavits identifying the citizenship of every party. The filing must identify every member of Wells Advance LLC, the citizenship of those members and members farther down the ownership chain, and Carpenter’s domicile. The court stated that it would remand the action to state court without further notice if Carpenter failed to do so. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.