U.S. Specialty Insurance Company v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London…
U.S. Specialty Insurance Company v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London Subscribing to Policy No 10268L170237
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:23-cv-08250
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In U.S. Specialty Insurance Co. v. Certain Underwriters, Judge Caproni ordered an amended complaint identifying Lloyd’s underwriters’ citizenship or dismissal without prejudice for lack of jurisdiction.
U.S. Specialty Insurance Company and the defendant underwriters; the defendants were ordered to file an amended complaint identifying the citizenship of the Lloyd’s underwriters.
What happened
In U.S. Specialty Insurance Company v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London Subscribing to Policy No. 10268L170237, the plaintiff claimed that federal jurisdiction existed because of the parties’ diverse citizenship.
The court explained that Lloyd’s has the citizenship of each individual underwriter who subscribes to the policy. The complaint alleged only that the defendant’s principal place of business was in London and did not identify the citizenship of the underwriters.
Judge Valerie Caproni ordered the defendants to file an amended complaint by October 4, 2023, curing the citizenship allegations. The order states that the matter will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction if the deficiencies are not cured.
The detailed version
- U.S. Specialty Insurance Company v. Certain Underwriters at Lloyd's London… · No. 1:23-cv-08250
- Valerie Caproni
- Sept. 20, 2023
Background
U.S. Specialty Insurance Company filed a complaint on September 19, 2023, against Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s London Subscribing to Policy No. 10268L170237. The complaint alleged that the court had subject matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship, meaning that the parties’ citizenships were sufficiently different for federal jurisdiction.
Jurisdictional deficiency
The court stated that Lloyd’s, as an unincorporated business organization, has the citizenship of each of its members. Therefore, diversity jurisdiction depends on the citizenship of the individual underwriters subscribing to the policy. The complaint alleged, on information and belief, that the defendant consisted of members of individual syndicates and that its principal place of business was in London, United Kingdom. It did not allege the citizenship of those members.
Order
The court ordered that, by October 4, 2023, the defendants must file an amended complaint curing the identified deficiencies. The order states that the matter will be dismissed without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction if the deficiencies are not cured. The court did not decide the underlying insurance dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.