Calhoun v. Wal-Mart Stores East, LP

Filing 4

OPINION AND ORDER re 1 Notice of Removal. The Court is not informed of the identity of the members of Wal-Mart Stores East, LLC, and each members citizenship. Therefore, Defendant is ORDERED to supplement the record on or before November 18, 2015, by filing an amended notice of removal that properlyrecites its citizenship. Signed by Magistrate Judge Susan L Collins on 11/4/2015. (kds)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
FORT WAYNE DIVISION
KEN CALHOUN,
Plaintiff,
v.
WAL-MART STORES EAST, LP,
d/b/a Walmart Supercenter,
Defendant.

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) Cause No. 1:15-cv-00324-JVB-SLC
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OPINION AND ORDER
Defendant Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, removed this case here on November 4, 2015, from
Allen Superior Court, alleging that the Court has diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §
1332. (DE 1). In its Petition for Removal, Defendant alleges that Plaintiff is a citizen of Indiana
and that Defendant Wal-Mart Stores East, LP, is:
a Delaware Limited Partnership, of which WSE Management, LLC, a Delaware
Limited Liability Company, is the general partner, and WSE Investment, LLC, a
Delaware Limited Liability Company, is the limited partner. The sole member of
WSE Management, LLC and WSE Investment, LLC is Wal-mart Stores East,
LLC, an Arkansas Limited Liability Holding Company with its principal place of
business located in the State of Arkansas.
(DE 1 ¶ 3). Defendant’s Petition for Removal, however, fails to adequately articulate its
citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.
For diversity purposes, “both general and limited partnerships are citizens of every
jurisdiction of which any partner is a citizen.” Ind. Gas Co. v. Home Ins. Co., 141 F.3d 314, 316
(7th Cir. 1998). And the citizenship of a limited liability company for purposes of diversity
jurisdiction is “the citizenship of its members.” Cosgrove v. Bartolotta, 150 F.3d 729, 731 (7th
Cir. 1998). Accordingly, citizenship for these entities must be “traced through multiple levels,”

as anything less can result in a remand for want of jurisdiction. Mut. Assignment & Indem. Co.
v. Lind-Waldock & Co., LLC, 364 F.3d 858, 861 (7th Cir. 2004).
Here, after tracing the citizenship of Defendant to Wal-Mart Stores East, LLC, Defendant
then fails to state and trace the citizenship of all of the members of Wal-Mart Stores East, LLC.
As a result, the Court is not informed of the identity of the members of Wal-Mart Stores East,
LLC, and each member’s citizenship.1 Therefore, Defendant is ORDERED to supplement the
record on or before November 18, 2015, by filing an amended notice of removal that properly
recites its citizenship.
SO ORDERED.
Enter for this 4th day of November 2015.
/s/ Susan Collins
Susan Collins
United States Magistrate Judge

1

This same Defendant in Bunch v. Wal-Mart, alleged that the sole member of WSE Management, LLC, and
WSE Investment, LLC, was Wal-Mart Stores East, Inc., not Wal-Mart Stores East, LLC. 1:09-CV-71, 2009 WL
1606860, at *2 (N.D. Ind. June 4, 2009). As explained in Bunch, the citizenship of a corporation for purposes of
diversity jurisdiction is determined differently than the citizenship of a limited liability company.

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