KIN & Company Inc. v. Matte Projects LLC
- Laura Swain
- 1:21-cv-09317
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In KIN & Company Inc. v. Matte Projects LLC, Judge Swain ordered both parties to disclose citizenship information relevant to diversity jurisdiction.
KIN & Company Inc. and Matte Projects LLC were both ordered to file disclosure statements identifying the citizenship of every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to them by May 10, 2023.
What happened
KIN & Company Inc. sued Matte Projects LLC in federal court, relying on diversity jurisdiction, which generally requires parties to be citizens of different states. KIN alleged that it was a California corporation and that Matte was a New York limited liability company with a New York business address.
The court explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of each of its members, not simply its business address or principal place of business. The existing allegations therefore did not establish Matte’s citizenship, and neither party had filed the required disclosure statement.
Judge Swain ordered both parties to file completed disclosure statements by May 10, 2023. Each statement must identify every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to that party and provide that person’s or entity’s citizenship.
The detailed version
- KIN & Company Inc. v. Matte Projects LLC · No. 1:21-cv-09317
- Laura Swain
- May 2, 2023
Background
KIN & Company Inc. filed this action against Matte Projects LLC and alleged that the court had subject matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship. KIN alleged that it was a California corporation with its principal place of business in California. It described Matte as a New York domestic limited liability company with its sole place of business at a New York address.
Jurisdictional issue
The court explained that those allegations did not establish Matte’s citizenship. For diversity-jurisdiction purposes, a limited liability company is a citizen of every state in which any of its members is a citizen. Alleging an LLC’s business address or principal place of business does not identify the LLC’s members or their citizenship.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 requires each party in a diversity case to file a disclosure statement naming and identifying the citizenship of every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to that party. The court noted that this requirement also applies to parties other than the plaintiff because a plaintiff may not have the information needed to plead an LLC’s citizenship.
Order
The court ordered both KIN & Company Inc. and Matte Projects LLC to file completed Rule 7.1 disclosure statements by May 10, 2023. Each statement must identify every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributable to that party and state that citizenship. The order addressed the information needed to establish diversity jurisdiction and did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.