Apollo Concrete, Inc. v. Peoplease, LLC
- Jesse Furman
- 1:23-cv-02335
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
Apollo Concrete v. Peoplease: Judge Furman ordered amended citizenship allegations before deciding whether the removed case may remain in federal court.
Peoplease, LLC must amend its notice of removal to properly allege the parties’ citizenship. The case may be returned to New York state court if complete diversity cannot be truthfully established.
What happened
Apollo Concrete, Inc. v. Peoplease, LLC concerns whether Peoplease properly alleged the parties’ citizenship to support federal jurisdiction after removing the case from New York state court.
Peoplease identified the locations of its limited liability company members and stated its principal place of business, but an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of each member, not its principal place of business. The court also noted errors in how the parties were described.
Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered Peoplease to amend its removal notice by March 29, 2023, to adequately and truthfully allege each party’s citizenship. If it could not show complete diversity, the court stated that the case would be sent back to New York state court without further notice.
The detailed version
- Apollo Concrete, Inc. v. Peoplease, LLC · No. 1:23-cv-02335
- Jesse Furman
- Mar. 22, 2023
Background
Peoplease removed this action from the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, on March 20, 2023. It asserted that the federal court had diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, which generally requires complete diversity of citizenship between the parties.
The court explained that a corporation’s citizenship is based on its state or country of incorporation and its principal place of business. An LLC, however, is a citizen of every state of which its members are citizens. A removal notice must therefore identify the citizenship of each individual LLC member and, if an LLC member is a business entity, provide that entity’s place of incorporation and principal place of business.
Court’s Analysis
The court found that Peoplease’s notice of removal did not meet those requirements. Peoplease alleged only that its members were “located” in Illinois and Florida, rather than alleging their states of citizenship. The court emphasized that residence or location alone does not establish citizenship for diversity-jurisdiction purposes.
The court also noted that Peoplease mistakenly described itself as a corporation and described Apollo Concrete, Inc. as a limited liability company. The court stated that Peoplease’s name, corporate disclosure statement, and state-court complaint confirmed that Peoplease is an LLC and that Apollo Concrete, Inc. is a corporation.
Order and Effect
The court ordered Peoplease to amend its notice of removal by March 29, 2023, to adequately allege the citizenship of both parties. If Peoplease could not truthfully amend the notice to show complete diversity of citizenship, the action would be remanded—sent back—to the Supreme Court of New York, New York County, without further notice. The opinion does not state that the case was remanded on March 22, 2023, or resolve the underlying dispute between the parties.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.