Highmore Financing Co. I, LLC v. Euler Hermes North America Insurance Company
- Lorna Schofield
- 1:23-cv-09418
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Highmore Financing v. Euler Hermes, Judge Schofield remanded the case because the notice failed to establish the plaintiff LLC’s members’ citizenship.
Highmore Financing Co. I, LLC and Euler Hermes North America Insurance Company; the action will proceed in New York state court rather than federal court.
What happened
Highmore Financing Co. I, LLC v. Euler Hermes North America Insurance Company concerns Defendant’s removal of the action from New York state court based on diversity jurisdiction.
Federal diversity jurisdiction generally requires the parties to be citizens of different states, and an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. The court found that Defendant’s removal notice did not provide enough facts to establish the citizenship of every member of Plaintiff LLC.
Judge Schofield ordered that the matter be remanded to state court. She also directed the Clerk of Court to close the federal case and send a certified copy of the Order to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County.
The detailed version
- Highmore Financing Co. I, LLC v. Euler Hermes North America Insurance Company · No. 1:23-cv-09418
- Lorna Schofield
- Nov. 10, 2023
Background
Defendant Euler Hermes North America Insurance Company, doing business as Allianz Trade, filed a notice of removal on October 26, 2023. It removed the action from state court based on diversity jurisdiction, which allows federal courts to hear certain civil cases involving citizens of different states when the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000, excluding interest and costs.
Jurisdictional Requirements
The court explained that diversity jurisdiction requires complete diversity, meaning that all opposing parties must be citizens of different states. The party invoking federal jurisdiction bears the burden of establishing that jurisdiction exists. For diversity purposes, a limited liability company generally has the citizenship of each of its members. A removal notice does not establish complete diversity when it fails to allege the citizenship of every member of a party LLC.
Ruling
The court found that Defendant’s notice of removal was procedurally defective because it did not plead facts sufficient to establish the citizenship of each member of Plaintiff Highmore Financing Co. I, LLC. The court ordered that the matter be remanded to state court. The Clerk of Court was directed to close the federal case and mail a certified copy of the Order to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, under 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c).
Classification
This is a procedural order because the court remanded the case for an insufficient jurisdictional showing without deciding the underlying dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.