Del Mar TIC I, LLC v. The Bancorp Bank
- Rochon
- 1:23-cv-08999
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 3
In Del Mar TIC I v. The Bancorp Bank, Judge Rochon ordered plaintiffs to disclose LLC citizenship information and appear after removal to federal court.
Del Mar TIC I, LLC and Del Mar TIC II, LLC must appear and disclose the citizenship of every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to them. The Bancorp Bank must file the state-court docket sheet and serve the order.
What happened
Del Mar TIC I, LLC and Del Mar TIC II, LLC sued The Bancorp Bank in New York state court, and The Bancorp Bank removed the case to federal court based on diversity jurisdiction. The bank said some members of the plaintiff limited liability companies were unknown and requested citizenship disclosures.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 requires parties in diversity cases to identify every person or entity whose citizenship counts toward the party’s citizenship. For a limited liability company, that can require identifying members and tracing ownership through other entities.
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered both plaintiffs to file completed disclosure statements within 10 days after appearing in the case. She also ordered the plaintiffs to appear by October 23, 2023, and ordered The Bancorp Bank to file the state-court docket sheet by October 17 and serve the order on the plaintiffs.
The detailed version
- Del Mar TIC I, LLC v. The Bancorp Bank · No. 1:23-cv-08999
- Rochon
- Oct. 16, 2023
Background
Del Mar TIC I, LLC and Del Mar TIC II, LLC filed their complaint in New York state court on September 8, 2023. The Bancorp Bank removed the case to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on October 12, 2023, asserting diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The bank’s removal papers stated that it is a national banking association with its main office in South Dakota and therefore a citizen of South Dakota for diversity purposes.
The bank identified some members of the two plaintiff limited liability companies but said that other members were unknown and could not be determined through a reasonably diligent search of public records. The bank filed its own disclosure statement under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1, but the plaintiffs had not filed theirs.
Rule and analysis
Rule 7.1 requires a party in an action based on diversity jurisdiction to file a disclosure statement identifying every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to that party. The court explained that the rule applies to parties other than the party that began the case, including parties in a case removed to federal court. For a limited liability company, citizenship generally follows the citizenship of its members. If a member is another noncorporate entity, the required disclosure may extend through the ownership chain until the citizenship of every relevant individual and corporation is identified.
Order
Judge Jennifer L. Rochon ordered Del Mar TIC I, LLC and Del Mar TIC II, LLC to file completed Rule 7.1 disclosure statements within 10 days of their appearance in the action. The statements must identify every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributable to each plaintiff. The judge also ordered the plaintiffs to appear in the action promptly and no later than October 23, 2023. In addition, The Bancorp Bank was ordered to file a copy of the state-court docket sheet by October 17, 2023, and to serve the order on the plaintiffs. The order addressed case administration and jurisdictional information; it did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.