Century 21 Real Estate LLC v. San Vicente Real Estate Services, INC et al

Filing 3

ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT for Lack of Subject Matter Jurisdiction: Plaintiff may amend the complaint by sufficiently alleging the citizenship of each of its members. Any such amended complaint due 8/20/07. Signed by Judge M. James Lorenz on 8/6/2007. (mjj) Attachment(s) added on 8/9/2007 (mjj, ). Modified on 8/9/2007 to replace unreadable document (mjj, ).

Century 21 Real Estate LLC v. San Vicente Real Estate Services, INC et al

Doc. 3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 CENTURY 21REAL ESTATE LLC, a limited liability company formerly known 12 as CENTURY 21 REAL ESTATE CORPORATION, a Delaware 13 corporation, 14 15 v. 16 SAN VICENTE REAL ESTATE SERVICES, INC., a California 17 corporation, et al., 18 19 20 Defendants. Plaintiff, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) Civil No. 07-CV-1423-L(RBB) ORDER DISMISSING COMPLAINT FOR LACK OF SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

Plaintiff, Century 21 Real Estate LLC ("Century 21") filed a complaint for breach of

21 contract and other state law claims based on diversity of citizenship pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 22 1332. Since the complaint fails to allege the information necessary to determine whether the 23 parties are diverse, it is dismissed. 24 The federal court is one of limited jurisdiction. See Gould v. Mutual Life Ins. Co. of N.Y.,

25 790 F.2d 769, 774 (9th Cir. 1986). It possesses only that power authorized by the Constitution 26 or a statute. See Bender v. Williamsport Area Sch. Dist., 475 U.S. 534, 541 (1986). It is 27 constitutionally required to raise issues related to federal subject matter jurisdiction, and may do 28 / / / / /
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1 so sua sponte. Steel Co. v. Citizens for a Better Env't, 523 U.S. 83, 93-94 (1998); see Indus. 2 Tectonics, Inc. v. Aero Alloy, 912 F.2d 1090, 1092 (9th Cir. 1990). 3 The plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that jurisdiction is properly before the

4 court. See Thornhill Publ'g Co. v. General Tel. & Elec. Corp., 594 F.2d 730, 733 (9th Cir. 5 1979). "The essential elements of diversity jurisdiction, including the diverse residence of all 6 parties must be affirmatively alleged in the pleadings." Bautista v. Pan American World 7 Airlines, Inc., 828 F.2d 546, 551 (9th Cir. 1987). 8 Plaintiff alleges that it "is a limited liability company organized under the laws of the

9 State of Delaware. Plaintiff was formerly known as Century 21 Real Estate Corporation, a 10 corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware." (Compl. ¶ 1.) That Plaintiff 11 was formerly a corporation is irrelevant because "[s]ubject matter jurisdiction is determined on 12 the basis of the facts that existed at the time the action was filed." See Stock West Corp. v. 13 Taylor, 964 F.2d 912, 917 (9th Cir. 1992). Plaintiff further alleges that its "principal place of 14 business is in the State of New Jersey" and that "[t]he majority of Plaintiff's employees, tangible 15 property and operations are located in the State of New Jersey." These facts have no bearing on 16 Plaintiff's citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. The citizenship of a limited liability 17 company is determined by examining the citizenship of each of its members. Carden v. Arkoma 18 Assoc., 494 U.S. 185, 195-96 (1990). The complaint does not allege the citizenship of each of 19 its members, which is necessary to establish diversity in this case. 20 Because the complaint does not allege any facts necessary to establish complete diversity

21 as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1332, it is DISMISSED for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. 22 Plaintiff may amend the complaint by sufficiently alleging the citizenship of each of its 23 members. See 28 U.S.C. § 1653. Any such amended complaint shall be filed no later than 24 August 20, 2007. 25 IT IS SO ORDERED.

26 DATED: August 6, 2007 27 28 M. James Lorenz United States District Court Judge
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1 COPY TO: 2 HON. RUBEN B. BROOKS UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 3 ALL PARTIES/COUNSEL 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
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