Peleus Insurance Company v. Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Company
- Jesse Furman
- 1:24-cv-02394
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Peleus Insurance v. Allied World, Judge Furman ordered Peleus to amend its complaint to properly plead citizenship for diversity jurisdiction.
Peleus Insurance Company must amend its complaint; the order affects the diversity-jurisdiction allegations concerning 333 Park Slope Condos, LLC, Rogers & Dawson Building Company LLC, and the individual parties, including Yen Jerly Vasquez Torres.
What happened
Peleus Insurance Company sued Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Company and others, claiming federal jurisdiction because the parties are citizens of different states. Peleus alleged its own citizenship and said two defendant limited liability companies were based in New York.
The court explained that a limited liability company has the citizenship of every member, so a complaint must identify the citizenship of each member and of all individual parties. The complaint did not provide that information.
Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered Peleus to amend its complaint by April 10, 2024, to provide the required citizenship allegations. He stated that if Peleus could not truthfully allege complete diversity, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The detailed version
- Peleus Insurance Company v. Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Company · No. 1:24-cv-02394
- Jesse Furman
- Apr. 2, 2024
Background
Peleus Insurance Company brought the action against Allied World Surplus Lines Insurance Company, 333 Park Slope Condos, LLC, Rogers & Dawson Building Company LLC, and Yen Jerly Vasquez Torres. Peleus invoked diversity jurisdiction, which allows a federal court to hear certain disputes involving parties who are citizens of different states. Peleus alleged that it was a citizen of Virginia and Illinois. It alleged that 333 Park Slope Condos, LLC and Rogers & Dawson Building Company LLC were “domiciled” in New York.
Court’s analysis
The court explained that a limited liability company is a citizen of every state where any of its members is a citizen. A complaint relying on diversity jurisdiction therefore must identify the citizenship of each member of an LLC. If an LLC member is another entity, the complaint must also provide the information needed to determine that entity’s citizenship, including the citizenship of members of any member LLC. The complaint also must affirmatively allege the citizenship of individual parties.
The court found that Peleus’s complaint failed to affirmatively allege the citizenship of each member of the LLC defendants. The order addressed the requirements for establishing subject matter jurisdiction and did not decide the underlying dispute between the parties.
Order and effect
Judge Jesse M. Furman ordered Peleus to amend its complaint by April 10, 2024, to allege the citizenship of every person or entity comprising the LLC defendants and the citizenship of all individual parties. The court stated that if Peleus could not truthfully amend the complaint to allege complete diversity of citizenship, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction without further notice. The order did not itself dismiss the complaint.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.