Krieger v. Singh
Filing
56
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER, granting 40 MOTION to Amend/Correct 33 Amended Complaint, Third Amended Complaint for Damages and Jury Demand filed by Brenda Krieger. Signed by Judge J. Phil Gilbert on 1/28/2025. (jdh)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
BRENDA KRIEGER, Administrator of the Estate of
James Krieger,
Plaintiff,
Case No. 24-cv-2530-JPG
v.
GURMIT SINGH; SULTAN TRUCKING, INC.;
ARMSTRONG TRANSPORTATION, LLC;
ARMSTRONG TRANSPORT, LLC; SJ TRANS,
INC.; YADWINDER SINGH; UNITED STATES
COLD STORAGE OF CALIFORNIA; SUPHERB
FARMS; ARMANINO FARMS OF CALIFORNIA,
INC.; MCCORMICK & COMPANY, INC.;
DAREGAL, INC.; and ARMSTRONG TRANSPORT
GROUP, LLC,
Defendants.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter comes before the Court on the unopposed motion of plaintiff Brenda Krieger,
administrator of the estate of James Krieger, for leave to file a Third Amended Complaint to add a
new defendant to this case (Doc. 40). Krieger prematurely filed the Third Amended Complaint
before the Court’s ruling on the motion. Nevertheless, for the reasons stated in the Court’s January
17, 2025, order, the Court GRANTS the motion to amend the complaint to add a new defendant to
this case (Doc. 40) and accepts the Third Amended Complaint (Doc. 41).
The Court’s prior Order to Show Cause remains valid (Doc. 24). The plaintiff must show
cause within 21 days of her filing the First Amended Complaint—that is, on or before February 13,
2025—why the Court should not dismiss this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction based on
the failure—a repeated failure—to establish complete diversity, specifically, the failure to properly
plead the citizenship of any of the LLC defendants in this case. The Court’s prior explanations of
the relevant factors for determining LLC citizenship have fallen on deaf ears, so the Court again
instructs that to plead the proper citizenship of an LLC, a complaint must allege (1) all of the
members of the LLC and (2) the citizenship of each of the members of that LLC. It is not enough to
state “the member,” “the managing member” or “a managing member” is a citizen of a state without
specifying that there are no more members other than that one member. Further, the LLC’s
residence, principal place of business, and state of organization are irrelevant; likewise, its agent’s
citizenship is irrelevant. The plaintiff’s response to the order to show cause must explain why she
has been unable so far to comply with these simple pleading requirements. Failure to respond to the
order to show cause may result in dismissal of this case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction or for
failure to prosecute pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(b).
The Court further AMENDS the order to show cause as follows (Doc. 24). In light of the
plaintiff’s unauthorized filing of the Third Amended Complaint to add a new defendant whose
citizenship is not properly pled, the Court ORDERS that the plaintiff may not file a Fourth
Amended Complaint curing the LLC citizenship pleading defects without first submitting the
proposed amended pleading to the Court for its review.
IT IS SO ORDERED.
DATED: January 28, 2025
s/ J. Phil Gilbert
J. PHIL GILBERT
DISTRICT JUDGE
2
Disclaimer: Justia Dockets & Filings provides public litigation records from the federal appellate and district courts. These filings and docket sheets should not be considered findings of fact or liability, nor do they necessarily reflect the view of Justia.
Why Is My Information Online?