Rosenfield & Company, PLLC v. Trachtenberg, Rodes & Friedberg LLP
- Rochon
- 1:21-cv-03858
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Rosenfield & Company v. Trachtenberg, Judge Rochon gave Plaintiff one final chance to prove diversity jurisdiction or face dismissal.
Rosenfield & Company, PLLC, the defendants, and the third-party parties were affected because Plaintiff was required to provide additional citizenship information for the parties and relevant business-entity owners; failure to do so by December 19, 2022, would result in dismissal for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
What happened
Rosenfield & Company, PLLC v. Trachtenberg, Rodes & Friedberg LLP concerns whether the parties’ citizenship information is sufficient for federal diversity jurisdiction. The Court had previously ordered Rosenfield & Company to provide citizenship details for the parties and the owners of certain business entities.
Rosenfield & Company submitted a six-sentence affidavit, but it did not identify the members and partners of the limited liability companies and partnership, or those owners’ members down the ownership chain. The Court therefore found that complete diversity had not been established.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered Rosenfield & Company to file a letter and sworn affidavits by December 19, 2022, identifying each party’s citizenship and showing complete diversity. The Court stated that the action will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Plaintiff cannot do so by that date.
The detailed version
- Rosenfield & Company, PLLC v. Trachtenberg, Rodes & Friedberg LLP · No. 1:21-cv-03858
- Rochon
- Dec. 12, 2022
Background
The Court had ordered Plaintiff Rosenfield & Company, PLLC, on December 2, 2022, to supplement its allegations about the parties’ citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. This required information about each limited liability company member or limited liability partnership partner, including the members of those owners further down the ownership chain.
Rosenfield & Company filed a letter and affidavit on December 9, 2022. The affidavit stated that all members of Rosenfield & Company were residents of Florida or New Jersey. It also stated, based on representations from counsel, that all members of the Star Auto Defendants and the entities themselves were citizens of New York, and that Defendant Trachtenberg, Rodes & Friedberg, LLP was a citizen of New York.
Court’s Analysis
The Court determined that Plaintiff still had not established complete diversity of citizenship. In particular, Plaintiff had not identified the members and partners of the limited liability companies and partnership, as the Court’s earlier order required. The Court explained that it could not proceed to the merits before determining whether it had subject-matter jurisdiction, meaning legal authority to hear the case.
Order
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon gave Plaintiff one final opportunity to establish jurisdiction. The Court ordered Plaintiff, by December 19, 2022, to file a letter supported by one or more sworn affidavits alleging in good faith the citizenship of each party, including the name and citizenship of every limited liability company member and limited liability partnership partner and the owners further down the chain. The filing must show that complete diversity exists. The Court stated that, if Plaintiff could not do so by that date, the action would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice to the parties.
This order did not itself dismiss the action or decide the underlying merits.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.