Smalls v. Bertrand
- Jesse Furman
- 1:23-cv-06374
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Smalls v. Bertrand, Judge Furman ordered Celeste Smalls to amend her complaint to properly allege citizenship or face dismissal without prejudice.
Celeste Smalls, who must amend her complaint to properly allege the parties’ citizenship; the case could otherwise be dismissed without prejudice.
What happened
In Smalls v. Bertrand, Celeste Smalls claimed that the federal court had jurisdiction because the parties were citizens of different states. She alleged their states of residence but did not allege their states of citizenship.
The court explained that residence alone does not establish citizenship for this type of jurisdiction. The court therefore required Smalls to provide the necessary citizenship allegations.
By October 9, 2023, Smalls had to file an amended complaint properly alleging each party’s citizenship, or the court would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice. Judge Jesse M. Furman issued the order.
The detailed version
- Smalls v. Bertrand · No. 1:23-cv-06374
- Jesse Furman
- Oct. 2, 2023
Background
Celeste Smalls filed a complaint on July 24, 2023. She invoked federal jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship, which generally requires the parties to be citizens of different states. The complaint alleged the parties’ states of residence but stated only that the parties had diverse citizenship.
Court’s Analysis
The court held that allegations about residence do not establish citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Citizenship depends on domicile, and the court has a responsibility to determine from the pleadings whether subject-matter jurisdiction exists. The opinion did not address the merits of Smalls’s underlying claims.
Order and Effect
The court ordered Smalls to file an amended complaint by October 9, 2023, properly alleging the citizenship of each party. The court stated that if she did not file an amended complaint establishing subject-matter jurisdiction by that date, it would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice to any party. The order was issued by Judge Jesse M. Furman.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.