Palmieri v. Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP.
- Garnett
- 1:24-cv-03645
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Audrey Palmieiri v. Hawkins, Judge Garnett gave Audrey Palmieiri 45 days to allege partners’ citizenship or face dismissal for lack of jurisdiction.
Audrey Palmieiri must decide whether to amend the complaint within 45 days to allege the citizenship of Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP’s partners; otherwise, the action will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction.
What happened
In Audrey Palmieiri v. Hawkins, the court identified a possible problem with federal jurisdiction based on the parties’ citizenship. The complaint says Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP is organized under New York law and has its principal place of business in New York, but it does not identify the citizenship of the LLP’s partners.
The court explained that an LLP is treated as a citizen of every state where its partners are citizens. It therefore ordered that Audrey Palmieiri may file an amended complaint within 45 days alleging the citizenship of all of the defendant’s partners. If a corporation is a partner, the amended complaint must also state where that corporation is incorporated and where it has its principal place of business.
Judge Margaret M. Garnett did not dismiss the action immediately. The order states that if Audrey Palmieiri does not truthfully allege complete diversity of citizenship by the deadline, the action will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice.
The detailed version
- Palmieri v. Hawkins, Delafield & Wood LLP. · No. 1:24-cv-03645
- Garnett
- May 13, 2024
Background
The court addressed whether the complaint adequately alleged federal subject-matter jurisdiction based on diversity of citizenship. Diversity jurisdiction generally requires complete diversity between the parties, meaning that the opposing parties must be citizens of different states.
The defendant is identified in the complaint as a limited liability partnership, or LLP. The complaint alleges that the defendant is organized under New York law and has its principal place of business in New York. It does not allege the citizenship of any of the defendant’s partners.
Court’s Analysis
The court stated that citizenship must be clearly alleged in the pleadings. For an LLP, citizenship is determined by the citizenship of each general and limited partner. Because the complaint did not identify the citizenship of the defendant’s partners, the court found that the allegations did not establish complete diversity of citizenship.
Order
Within 45 days, the plaintiff may file an amended complaint expressly alleging the citizenship of all of the defendant’s partners. If a corporation is one of the partners, the amended complaint must state the state under whose laws that corporation is incorporated and its principal place of business.
If the plaintiff fails to amend by the deadline to truthfully allege complete diversity of citizenship, the action will be dismissed for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction without further notice. The court did not dismiss the action in this order and did not reach the underlying merits of the dispute.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.