Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. v. Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-07069
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Kuehne + Nagel v. Halco, Judge Rochon gave Kuehne + Nagel until August 29 to establish diversity jurisdiction or face possible dismissal.
Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. must provide additional facts concerning the citizenship of Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC’s members by August 29, 2023. Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC is affected because the court has not yet determined that federal diversity jurisdiction exists over the action.
What happened
Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. sued Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC. The court questioned whether the complaint established diversity jurisdiction, which requires the parties to be citizens of different states.
Kuehne + Nagel first identified Halco as a Delaware limited liability company whose member and manager was another limited liability company. After the court asked for more information, Kuehne + Nagel instead identified Katherine Bush and Jay Weaver as Halco’s managers and members and provided a Georgia address. The court said those allegations did not establish where Bush and Weaver were domiciled, or permanently based for citizenship purposes.
Judge Rochon gave Kuehne + Nagel another opportunity to provide facts showing complete diversity by August 29, 2023. The court did not dismiss the action at this stage, but warned that it may dismiss the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice if the required facts were not provided.
The detailed version
- Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. v. Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC · No. 1:23-cv-07069
- Rochon
- Aug. 22, 2023
Background
Kuehne + Nagel, Inc. commenced the action on August 10, 2023. On August 11, the court ordered Kuehne + Nagel to show why federal subject-matter jurisdiction existed based on diversity of citizenship.
The complaint alleged that Halco Lighting Technologies, LLC was a Delaware limited liability company and that its only member and manager was HLT Holdings, LLC, which was organized by EX Corp LLC. In its August 21 response, Kuehne + Nagel instead alleged that Halco’s managers and members were Katherine Bush and Jay Weaver, and listed the same Norcross, Georgia, street address for both individuals.
Jurisdictional issue
For diversity jurisdiction, an individual’s citizenship is determined by domicile—the person’s true, fixed home and principal place of establishment, to which the person intends to return. The court explained that the allegations did not establish Bush’s or Weaver’s domicile. The listed address appeared to be Halco’s company address and had also been provided by a third Halco member in 2021. The court therefore said it could not reasonably infer that the address was either individual’s domicile.
The court also noted the inconsistency between the complaint’s identification of HLT Holdings, LLC as Halco’s member and the later response’s identification of Bush and Weaver. On the information provided, Kuehne + Nagel had not alleged facts sufficient to establish complete diversity.
Order
The court provided Kuehne + Nagel an additional opportunity to supplement its allegations and show complete diversity. The deadline was August 29, 2023. The court did not dismiss the action in this opinion. It warned that the action may be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice if Kuehne + Nagel could not allege complete diversity by the deadline.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.