Bielski v. Alfred Saliba Corporation, et al

Filing 5

OPINION AND ORDER directing that the plaintiff Kathryn Bielski has until December 14, 2012, to amend the complaint to allege jurisdiction sufficiently; otherwise this lawsuit shall be dismissed without prejudice, as further set out. Signed by Honorable Judge Myron H. Thompson on 12/5/12. (scn, )

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF ALABAMA, SOUTHERN DIVISION

KATHRYN BIELSKI,
Plaintiff,
v.
ALFRED SALIBA CORPORATION,
an Alabama domestic
corporation, et al.,
Defendants.

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CIVIL ACTION NO.
1:12cv1049-MHT
(WO)

OPINION AND ORDER
The allegations of the plaintiff Kathryn Bielski's
complaint

are

insufficient

to

invoke

diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction.
must

show

that

the

citizenship

of

different from that of each defendant.

this

court's

The allegations

each

plaintiff

is

28 U.S.C. § 1332.

The plaintiff's complaint fails to meet this standard
in two ways.

First, the complaint gives the "residence"

rather than the "citizenship" of plaintiff Bielski and
defendants Cornelius and Bridgette Kugler.

An allegation

that a party is a "resident" of a State is not sufficient

to establish that a party is a "citizen" of that State.
Delome v. Union Barge Line Co., 444 F.2d 225, 233 (5th
Cir.), cert. denied, 404 U.S. 995 (1971).*
Second, the Supreme Court has stated that, “Since
Strawbridge v. Curtiss, 3 Cranch 267 (1806), we have read
the

statutory

formulation

‘between

...

citizens

of

different States’ to require complete diversity between all
plaintiffs and all defendants.”

Lincoln Prop. Co. v.

Roche, 546 U.S. 81, 84, 89 (2005). 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1),
therefore, requires “complete diversity,” that is, no
plaintiff may be from the same State as any defendant. See
Stillwell v. Allstate Ins. Co., 663 F.3d 1329, 1332 (11th
Cir. 2011).

Or, to put it another way, the presence of a

plaintiff and a defendant from the same State destroys
diversity-of-citizenship jurisdiction. Here, the complaint
alleges that plaintiff Bielski and defendants Cornelius and

*

In Bonner v. Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th Cir.
1981) (en banc), the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals
adopted as binding precedent all of the decisions of the
former Fifth Circuit handed down prior to the close of
business on September 30, 1981.
2

Bridgette Kugler are residents (and presumably citizens,
though the allegations are now insufficient) of the same
State, that is, North Carolina. If this is true, there can
be no diversity of citizenship.
***
It is therefore the ORDER, JUDGMENT, and DECREE of the
court that the plaintiff Kathryn Bielski has until December
14, 2012, to amend the complaint to allege jurisdiction
sufficiently; otherwise this lawsuit shall be dismissed
without prejudice.
DONE, this the 5th day of December, 2012.

/s/ Myron H. Thompson
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE