Ratermann v. Pierre Fabre USA, Inc.
- Jesse Furman
- 1:22-cv-00325
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Ratermann v. Pierre Fabre, Judge Furman ordered corrected citizenship allegations, warning he would dismiss without prejudice if they were not filed by September 19.
Patty Ratermann and the defendants, because the case’s continuation depended on Ratermann properly alleging each party’s citizenship.
What happened
Ratermann v. Pierre Fabre USA, Inc. concerns whether the complaint properly established the court’s authority to hear the case based on the parties’ citizenship. Patty Ratermann alleged residence, but the court said residence alone does not establish citizenship for this purpose.
The court ordered Ratermann to file an amended complaint by September 19, 2023, alleging each party’s citizenship. She could not make other changes and had to file a redlined copy showing the changes. If she did not establish the court’s authority, the court said it would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice. If she did, the pending motions to dismiss would apply to the amended complaint.
Judge Jesse M. Furman issued the order on September 14, 2023. The order addressed the complaint’s jurisdictional allegations and did not decide the pending motions to dismiss or the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Ratermann v. Pierre Fabre USA, Inc. · No. 1:22-cv-00325
- Jesse Furman
- Sept. 14, 2023
Background
On February 23, 2023, Patty Ratermann filed a Fourth Amended Complaint invoking diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. Diversity jurisdiction is a form of federal jurisdiction based on the parties being citizens of different states and satisfying other statutory requirements.
Ratermann alleged that the case was between citizens of different states, but the court found that she alleged only her state of residence, not her state of citizenship. The court explained that residence alone is not enough to establish citizenship for diversity jurisdiction. The order required proper allegations concerning the citizenship of each party.
Order
Judge Furman ordered Ratermann to file an amended complaint no later than September 19, 2023, properly alleging the citizenship of every party. The amendment was limited: Ratermann could not make any other changes to the pleading and had to file a redline showing every change made to the Fourth Amended Complaint.
If Ratermann did not file an amended complaint establishing the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction, the court stated that it would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice to any party. If she did file an amended complaint establishing jurisdiction, the pending motions to dismiss would be deemed to relate to that amended complaint. The order did not resolve those motions or the merits of the claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.