Arthur v. Orchestrate Business LLC
- Garnett
- 1:24-cv-02985
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Clint Arthur v. Orchestrate Business LLC, Judge Garnett ordered Arthur to amend his complaint to allege the LLC members’ citizenship.
Plaintiff Clint Arthur must amend the complaint to allege the citizenship of every member of Orchestrate Business LLC. The defendants are affected because the court may dismiss the complaint for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if complete diversity cannot be truthfully alleged.
What happened
Clint Arthur v. Orchestrate Business LLC concerns whether the complaint adequately alleged federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship. Arthur alleged that he is a New York citizen, that Raffi Andonian is a Missouri citizen, and that Orchestrate Business LLC is organized and based in Missouri.
The court explained that a complaint involving an LLC must identify each member of the LLC and allege the citizenship of those members. The complaint did not identify Orchestrate Business LLC’s members or allege their citizenship.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett ordered Arthur to amend the complaint by May 22, 2024, to allege the citizenship of every person or entity comprising the LLC. The court warned that the complaint may be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction if Arthur cannot truthfully allege complete diversity.
The detailed version
- Arthur v. Orchestrate Business LLC · No. 1:24-cv-02985
- Garnett
- Apr. 23, 2024
Background
Clint Arthur sued Raffi Andonian and Orchestrate Business LLC. He invoked federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship, which generally requires the parties to be citizens of different states and the required amount to be in dispute.
Arthur alleged that he is a citizen of New York and that Andonian is a citizen of Missouri. He alleged that Orchestrate Business LLC is organized under Missouri law and has its principal place of business in Missouri. The complaint did not identify the members of Orchestrate Business LLC or allege the citizenship of those members.
Court’s Analysis
The court explained that diversity of citizenship must be clearly alleged. For an LLC, the complaint must identify the natural-person members and allege their citizenship, as well as provide the relevant incorporation and principal-place-of-business information for any corporate members.
Order
The court ordered Arthur to amend the complaint by May 22, 2024, to affirmatively allege the citizenship of each person or entity comprising Orchestrate Business LLC. The court stated that, if Arthur cannot truthfully allege complete diversity by that date, the complaint may be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. The order did not decide the merits of Arthur’s claims.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.