Cartagena v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc.
- James Oetken
- 1:23-cv-04169
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Cartagena v. Ryder Truck Rental, Judge Oetken ordered defendants to clarify LLC citizenship or face possible dismissal for lack of diversity jurisdiction.
Carlos Cartagena and the defendants, particularly the defendant limited liability companies and their counsel, because the court required additional jurisdictional information and warned of possible dismissal.
What happened
Cartagena v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. was removed from New York state court to federal court on May 19, 2023. The court also directed the plaintiff’s lawyer to file an appearance by June 15, 2023.
The defendants relied on diversity jurisdiction, but the removal papers did not identify the citizenship of every member of the defendant limited liability companies. Judge Oetken explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on its members’ citizenship, not its principal business location or state of registration.
Judge Oetken ordered the defendants by June 2, 2023, either to explain why the complaint should not be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction or to seek permission to file an amended complaint that properly states the jurisdictional facts. The order warned that the case may be dismissed if the defendants do not comply.
The detailed version
- Cartagena v. Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. · No. 1:23-cv-04169
- James Oetken
- May 22, 2023
Background
The case was removed from New York Supreme Court, Bronx County, on May 19, 2023. The court directed counsel for Carlos Cartagena to file an appearance by June 15, 2023, and directed defense counsel to serve the order on Cartagena’s counsel by June 2, 2023.
Jurisdictional issue
The defendants invoked diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The court found that the notice of removal did not adequately establish that jurisdiction because it failed to allege the citizenship of each member of the defendant limited liability companies. The court explained that, for diversity purposes, an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members; its principal place of business and state of registration are not relevant to that question. The defendants therefore had to allege that every LLC member’s citizenship was different from Cartagena’s citizenship when the action was filed.
Order
The court ordered the defendants, by June 2, 2023, to either show why the complaint should not be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction or move to file an amended complaint that properly pleads jurisdiction. The court stated that the action may be dismissed if the defendants fail to do so. The opinion does not state whether the defendants later complied or whether the case was ultimately dismissed. Judge Oetken issued the order on May 22, 2023.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.