Windard Bora LLC v. Sotomayor
- Cathy Seibel
- 7:21-cv-07161
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Windward Bora LLC v. Sotomayor, Judge Seibel required jurisdictional facts about an LLC’s members before determining diversity jurisdiction.
Windward Bora LLC must provide additional facts supporting diversity jurisdiction, particularly the citizenship of all members of Midland Funding LLC. The order concerns whether the federal court can exercise jurisdiction over the action; it does not decide the parties’ underlying claims.
What happened
Windward Bora LLC sued John Sotomayor and other defendants, claiming that the federal court had jurisdiction because the parties were citizens of different states.
The opinion states that Midland Funding LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of all its members, but Windward Bora did not identify those members’ citizenships. The court therefore could not determine whether diversity jurisdiction existed.
Judge Seibel ordered Windward Bora to file a letter by 5:00 p.m. on February 21, 2023, explaining and supporting its claim that diversity jurisdiction exists. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Windard Bora LLC v. Sotomayor · No. 7:21-cv-07161
- Cathy Seibel
- Feb. 16, 2023
Background
Windward Bora LLC filed the action on August 25, 2021, against John Sotomayor, Alexandria Loaiza, American Express Centurion Bank, Midland Funding LLC doing business in New York as Midland Funding of Delaware, LLC, Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., and John and Jane Doe. Windward Bora alleged that the court had subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Diversity jurisdiction generally requires the parties to be citizens of different states.
Jurisdictional issue
The court explained that a limited liability company’s citizenship is based on the citizenship of all of its members. Windward Bora alleged that Midland Funding LLC was a citizen of California, but it did not allege the citizenship of Midland Funding LLC’s members. Because of that omission, the court could not determine whether Midland Funding LLC and Windward Bora were citizens of different states when the action was filed.
Order
Judge Cathy Seibel ordered Windward Bora to file a letter through the court’s electronic filing system by 5:00 p.m. on February 21, 2023. The letter must explain the basis for asserting diversity jurisdiction and provide factual support. The opinion does not rule on the underlying claims or state a final disposition of the action.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.