Heng Ren Partners LLC v. Halesworth
- Philip Halpern
- 7:23-cv-02588
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Heng Ren Partners, LLC v. Halesworth, Judge Halpern ordered Plaintiff to document its members’ citizenship and diversity jurisdiction by April 4.
Heng Ren Partners, LLC must provide information about the citizenship of each of its members; the court’s ability to determine federal diversity jurisdiction in the case is affected.
What happened
Heng Ren Partners, LLC sued David Halesworth and claimed that the federal court had jurisdiction because the parties were citizens of different states and more than $75,000 was at stake.
The court explained that a limited liability company’s citizenship comes from the citizenship of all its members. The complaint identified the company’s organization and principal place of business but did not identify its members’ citizenships.
Judge Philip M. Halpern said he could not determine whether diversity jurisdiction existed and ordered Heng Ren Partners, LLC to file a letter by 5:00 p.m. on April 4, 2023, supported by an affidavit, establishing the citizenship of each member and showing diversity from Halesworth.
The detailed version
- Heng Ren Partners LLC v. Halesworth · No. 7:23-cv-02588
- Philip Halpern
- Mar. 28, 2023
Background
Heng Ren Partners, LLC filed the action against David Halesworth on March 27, 2023. The complaint asserted federal diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a), alleging that the parties were citizens of different states and that the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000.
The complaint described Heng Ren Partners, LLC as organized under Massachusetts law and having its principal place of business in Boston, Massachusetts. But the complaint did not state the citizenship of any of the LLC’s members.
Court’s Analysis
The court explained that, unlike a corporation, a limited liability company receives its citizenship from each of its members. Because the complaint did not identify the members’ citizenships, the court could not determine whether every member was diverse from Halesworth as of the filing date. The court therefore could not conclude that diversity jurisdiction existed.
Order
The court ordered Heng Ren Partners, LLC to file a letter through the court’s electronic filing system by 5:00 p.m. on April 4, 2023. The letter must establish diversity of citizenship between each LLC member and Halesworth and support factual statements about the LLC’s membership with an affidavit from a person with personal knowledge.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.