Mezrow v. Hotel Hayden
- Jesse Furman
- 1:23-cv-03755
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Mezrow v. Hotel Hayden, Judge Furman gave Max Mezrow one final chance to plead citizenship correctly before possible dismissal.
Max Mezrow and the defendants, including Fortuna Realty, LLC and Fortuna Hotel Collection. Mezrow was given a final opportunity to correct the jurisdictional allegations; otherwise, the case would be dismissed without prejudice.
What happened
In Mezrow v. Hotel Hayden, the court found that Max Mezrow’s amended complaint still did not properly allege the parties’ citizenship for diversity jurisdiction.
The court said Mezrow needed to identify every member of Fortuna Realty, LLC and plead each member’s citizenship, rather than rely on an allegation made only on information and belief. The complaint also did not mention the citizenship of Fortuna Hotel Collection.
Judge Jesse M. Furman granted Mezrow one last opportunity to amend by May 24, 2023. The court said it would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice if he could not correct the allegations, and reminded him to file a redline with any amended pleading.
The detailed version
- Mezrow v. Hotel Hayden · No. 1:23-cv-03755
- Jesse Furman
- May 17, 2023
Background
On May 11, 2023, the court ordered Max Mezrow to amend his complaint to properly allege the citizenship of each party. Mezrow then filed a first amended complaint on May 16, 2023.
Defects Identified by the Court
The court held that the amended complaint did not correct all of the previously identified defects. For Fortuna Realty, LLC, Mezrow alleged only, on information and belief, that all of its members were citizens of New York State. The court explained that an LLC’s citizenship must be pleaded by affirmatively identifying each member and affirmatively alleging each member’s citizenship. The amended complaint also did not mention the citizenship of Fortuna Hotel Collection.
These allegations concerned diversity of citizenship, the basis for federal jurisdiction asserted in the case. The court did not decide the underlying merits of Mezrow’s claims.
Order
The court granted Mezrow one last opportunity to amend his complaint and adequately allege diversity of citizenship. The amendment was due by May 24, 2023. The court stated that, if Mezrow could not do so, it would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice to any party.
The court also reminded Mezrow that its individual rules require any amended or corrected filing, including an amended pleading, to include a redline showing all differences from the original filing. Judge Jesse M. Furman signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.