U.S. Bank National Association v. 218 Realty LLC
- Jesse Furman
- 1:24-cv-02581
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In U.S. Bank v. 218 Realty, Judge Furman ordered clarification of LLC citizenship allegations or amendment by May 10, warning of dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.
U.S. Bank National Association must clarify or amend its allegations about the citizenship of 218 Realty LLC’s members and other individual parties by May 10, 2024. The defendants could be affected if the complaint is dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
What happened
U.S. Bank National Association sued 218 Realty LLC and others, claiming the federal court could hear the case because the parties were citizens of different states. The complaint said U.S. Bank was a citizen of Ohio, while certain defendants were citizens of New York.
The court said the complaint did not clearly establish all of 218 Realty LLC’s members. It ordered U.S. Bank to confirm by May 10, 2024, that Nechemia Gross and Eugene Weiss were the LLC’s only members, or to amend the complaint to identify the citizenship of every member and individual defendant.
Judge Furman warned that if U.S. Bank could not confirm or truthfully amend the allegations to show complete diversity, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. The order did not decide the underlying dispute.
The detailed version
- U.S. Bank National Association v. 218 Realty LLC · No. 1:24-cv-02581
- Jesse Furman
- May 6, 2024
Background
U.S. Bank National Association brought this action against 218 Realty LLC, Nechemia Gross, Eugene Weiss, The City of New York Environmental Control Board, and John Doe No. I through John Doe No. XXX. U.S. Bank invoked diversity jurisdiction, which allows a federal court to hear certain cases between citizens of different states. The complaint alleged that U.S. Bank was a citizen of Ohio; that Gross and Weiss were citizens of New York and members of 218 Realty LLC; and that the Environmental Control Board was a citizen of New York.
Jurisdictional issue
The court explained that an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. A complaint relying on diversity jurisdiction must therefore identify the citizenship of every person or entity that is an LLC member, including the citizenship of members of any member LLCs. The complaint described Gross as 218 Realty LLC’s managing member and Weiss as another member, but did not expressly allege that they were the LLC’s only members.
Order
The court ordered U.S. Bank to file a letter by May 10, 2024, confirming that Gross and Weiss were the only members of 218 Realty LLC. If they were not the only members, U.S. Bank had to amend the complaint by that date to allege the citizenship of every person or entity comprising the LLC and the citizenship of all individual parties. If U.S. Bank could not confirm that citizenship was adequately alleged or truthfully allege complete diversity, the complaint would be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. Judge Furman did not decide the merits of the underlying dispute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.