Venator v. Interstate Resources, Inc. et al

Filing 8

ORDERED that defendants are directed to file an amended notice of removal within 14 days from the date of this order. Signed by Judge William T. Moore, Jr on 4/14/15. (wwp)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR
THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA
SAVANNAH DIVISION
DENISE
spouse
and as
Estate

VENATOR, as surviving
of Ricky Lee Veriator
Administratrix of the
of Ricky Lee Venator,
CASE NO. CV415-086

Plaintiff,
V.

U. S. DISTRICT COURT
INTERSTATE RESOURCES, INC.;
INTERSTATE PAPER, LLC; and
MICHAEL JOSEPH WINGATE;
Defendants.

Southern District of Ga.
Filed in Office

Diputy

M1

ORDER
Defendant has removed this case from the State Court
of Liberty County, Georgia. (Doc. 1.) Defendants' Notice of
Removal attempts to invoke this Court's diversity
jurisdiction. (Doc. 1 T 1.) However, the jurisdictional
allegations contained in the notice of removal are
insufficient to establish complete diversity between the
parties.
The party invoking this Court's diversity jurisdiction
bears the burden of adequately pleading complete diversity
between the parties. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332; Ray v. Bird
& Son& Asset Realization Co. 519 F.2d 1081, 1082 (5th

Cir.

1975)

('The burden of pleading diversity of

citizenship is upon the party invoking federal
jurisdiction, and if jurisdiction is properly challenged,
that party also bears the burden of proof."). For the
purposes of diversity jurisdiction, a limited liability
company ("LLC") is a citizen of every state in which any of
its members are citizens. Rolling Greens MHP, L.P. v.
Comcast SCH Holdings L.L.C., 374 F.3d 1020, 1021-22 (11th
Cir. 2004) . The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals has been
explicit in addressing the proper method to allege
sufficiently the citizenship of an LLC: 'a party must list
the citizenships of all the members of the limited
liability company." Id. at 1022.
In this case, the notice of removal does not include a
list of the individual members, along with their
citizenship, of Defendant Interstate Paper, LLC. Rather,
the notice of removal only states that Defendant Interstate
Paper, LLC is a Delaware limited liability company with its
principal place of business in Virginia. (Doc. 1 ¶ 1.) The
notice of removal relies on these allegations to advance

1

In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206, 1209 (11th
Cir. 1981) (en banc), the Eleventh Circuit adopted as
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the general conclusion that complete diversity exists
between the parties. (Id.) Such unspecific allegations,
however, are insufficient for Defendants to carry their
burden of establishing complete diversity between the
parties. See Ray, 519 F.2d at 1082.
Accordingly, Defendants are
amended notice of removal within

DIRECTED

to file an

fourteen days

from the

date of this order. The amended notice of removal should
properly include the citizenship of each party to this
case, specifically the names and citizenships of each
member of Defendant Interstate Paper, LLC.
SO ORDERED this

day of April 2015.

WILLIAM T. MOORE, JRV
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF GEORGIA

binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit
handed down prior to October 1, 1981.
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