DDG Development LLC v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:23-cv-05034
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In DDG Development v. State Farm Fire and Casualty, Judge Caproni ordered plaintiffs to amend diversity allegations by June 30 or face dismissal without prejudice.
DDG Development LLC, DDG Partners LLC, and 180 East Street Realty LLC must provide additional citizenship information in an amended complaint. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company is the defendant affected by the possible continuation or dismissal of the case.
What happened
DDG Development LLC, DDG Partners LLC, and 180 East Street Realty LLC sued State Farm Fire and Casualty Company. They said the court had jurisdiction because the parties were citizens of different states.
Judge Caproni explained that an LLC’s citizenship depends on the citizenship of all its members. The complaint did not identify the members’ citizenships or, for any corporate members, their places of incorporation and principal places of business.
Judge Caproni ordered the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint fixing these problems by June 30, 2023. She ordered that the complaint will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if they do not do so.
The detailed version
- DDG Development LLC v. State Farm Fire and Casualty Company · No. 1:23-cv-05034
- Valerie Caproni
- June 23, 2023
Background
DDG Development LLC, DDG Partners LLC, and 180 East Street Realty LLC filed a complaint against State Farm Fire and Casualty Company. The plaintiffs alleged that federal subject-matter jurisdiction was based on diversity of citizenship, which generally requires the parties to be citizens of different states.
Jurisdictional Deficiencies
The court explained that a corporation’s citizenship is based on its place of incorporation and principal place of business. An LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. A complaint relying on diversity jurisdiction therefore must identify the citizenship of natural-person members and the place of incorporation and principal place of business of corporate members, including the citizenship of members that are themselves LLCs.
The complaint alleged that DDG Development was an LLC organized under New York law and authorized to do business in New York, but did not state its principal place of business or the citizenships of its members. It alleged that DDG Partners and 180 East Street Realty were LLCs organized under Delaware law and authorized to do business in New York, but likewise did not state their principal places of business or the citizenships of their members.
Order
Judge Valerie Caproni ordered the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint curing these deficiencies no later than June 30, 2023. The order states that the complaint will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if the plaintiffs do not do so. The order did not decide the underlying dispute with State Farm.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.