KD Entertainment LLC v. Steem Monsters Corp.
- Jesse Furman
- 1:23-cv-02569
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In KD Entertainment LLC v. Steem Monsters Corp., Judge Furman ordered citizenship details for diversity jurisdiction and warned the case would be dismissed if complete diversity could not be shown.
Steem Monsters Corp. must provide additional citizenship information about the members of KD Entertainment LLC by April 4, 2023. The case could be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if complete diversity cannot truthfully be shown.
What happened
KD Entertainment LLC sued Steem Monsters Corp. in New York state court, and Steem Monsters removed the case to federal court based on diversity of citizenship. Steem Monsters alleged that it was a citizen of Delaware and Pennsylvania and that KD Entertainment was a citizen of New Jersey.
The court explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of all its members. Steem Monsters’s removal notice did not identify the citizenship of the people or entities that made up KD Entertainment. The court therefore required more information before deciding whether it had authority to hear the case.
Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered Steem Monsters to amend its removal notice by April 4, 2023, to provide that information. The court warned that if Steem Monsters could not truthfully show complete diversity, the case would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The order did not itself dismiss the case.
The detailed version
- KD Entertainment LLC v. Steem Monsters Corp. · No. 1:23-cv-02569
- Jesse Furman
- Mar. 28, 2023
Background
KD Entertainment LLC brought the action against Steem Monsters Corp. in New York state court. Steem Monsters removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asserting diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Diversity jurisdiction is federal authority to hear certain cases involving citizens of different states.
Steem Monsters alleged that it was a citizen of Delaware and Pennsylvania and that KD Entertainment was a citizen of New Jersey. The court noted, however, that an LLC is a citizen of every state where its members are citizens. The removal notice alleged only KD Entertainment’s place of incorporation and principal place of business, rather than the citizenship of each person or entity that made up the LLC.
Order
The court ordered Steem Monsters to amend its notice of removal by April 4, 2023, to allege the citizenship of each constituent person or entity comprising KD Entertainment. The court further ordered that, if Steem Monsters could not truthfully allege complete diversity, the case would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. The order did not dismiss the case at that time.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.