Dual North America, Inc. v. Kearns
- Jesse Furman
- 1:23-cv-08918
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
Dual North America v. Kearns: Judge Furman ordered the plaintiff to clarify citizenship or face dismissal without prejudice.
Dual North America, Inc. must amend its complaint to allege each party’s citizenship. Dennis Kearns and the other defendants are affected because the case may be dismissed without prejudice if the jurisdictional allegations are not corrected.
What happened
In Dual North America, Inc. v. Kearns, the plaintiff claimed the federal court had jurisdiction because the parties were citizens of different states, but alleged only the defendants’ states of residence.
The court explained that residence is not enough to establish citizenship for this type of jurisdiction. It ordered the plaintiff to file an amended complaint properly stating every party’s citizenship by October 23, 2023.
Judge Jesse M. Furman did not dismiss the case at this stage. He stated that the court would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice if the plaintiff did not file an amended complaint establishing federal jurisdiction.
The detailed version
- Dual North America, Inc. v. Kearns · No. 1:23-cv-08918
- Jesse Furman
- Oct. 17, 2023
Background
Dual North America, Inc. filed a complaint invoking the court’s subject-matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, which provides for federal jurisdiction in certain disputes involving citizens of different states. The complaint stated that “the parties are diverse,” but alleged the defendants’ states of residence rather than their states of citizenship.
Court’s analysis
The court held that allegations about residence do not establish citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. A person’s citizenship depends on domicile, and the complaint did not properly allege the citizenship of each party. The court therefore required the plaintiff to correct the jurisdictional allegations.
Disposition
The court ordered Dual North America, Inc. to file an amended complaint properly alleging the citizenship of every party no later than October 23, 2023. The court did not dismiss the case in this order. It stated that if the plaintiff failed to file an amended complaint establishing subject-matter jurisdiction by that date, the court would dismiss the case without prejudice and without further notice.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.