Rooney v. Prospect Capital Management L.P.
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-01753
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Rooney v. Prospect Capital Management, Judge Rochon ordered plaintiffs to clarify defendants’ citizenship to establish federal subject-matter jurisdiction.
The plaintiffs and the defendant entities, including Prospect Capital Management L.P., because the plaintiffs were required to provide ownership and citizenship information concerning the defendants.
What happened
In Rooney v. Prospect Capital Management L.P., the plaintiffs identified the owners of two plaintiff individual retirement accounts after the Court requested jurisdictional information. But they did not allege the citizenship of Prospect Capital Management L.P. or the other defendants.
The Court explained that a limited partnership’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of all its general and limited partners, and that a limited liability company’s citizenship depends on its members. Plaintiffs therefore had to identify and allege the citizenship of the members of the defendant entities, tracing ownership through any non-corporate entities.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered the plaintiffs to file, by June 5, 2023, a letter supported by one or more sworn affidavits providing the information needed for the Court to exercise subject-matter jurisdiction. The order did not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Rooney v. Prospect Capital Management L.P. · No. 1:23-cv-01753
- Rochon
- May 23, 2023
Background
On May 15, 2023, the Court directed the plaintiffs to file a disclosure statement under Rule 7.1 containing information needed to establish subject-matter jurisdiction. On May 22, 2023, the plaintiffs filed a statement that apparently identified the owners of the plaintiff Doris Wall IRA and Michael Faigen IRA.
The Court noted that neither that statement nor the complaint alleged the citizenship of defendant Prospect Capital Management L.P., a limited partnership, or the other defendants.
Jurisdictional requirements
For diversity jurisdiction, the Court explained that a limited partnership has the citizenship of each of its general and limited partners. A limited liability company has the citizenship of each state of which its members are citizens. If a member of a limited partnership or limited liability company is itself a non-corporate entity, the parties must identify and allege the citizenship of members through the ownership chain until the identity and citizenship of every individual and corporation with a direct or indirect interest have been alleged.
Order
The Court ordered the plaintiffs to file, no later than June 5, 2023, a letter supported by one or more sworn affidavits. The filing must provide the prerequisites for the Court to exercise subject-matter jurisdiction, including the identity and citizenship of the members of Prospect Capital Management L.P. and the other defendant entities. The order addressed the information needed to establish jurisdiction and did not resolve the merits of the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.