Leadford v. Bock Industries, Inc. et al

Filing 3

OPINION AND ORDER re 1 Complaint. Plaintiff is ORDERED to file on or before January 12, 2017 an amended complaint that properly alleges the citizenship of the parties. Signed by Magistrate Judge Susan L Collins on 12/29/16. (nal)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
FORT WAYNE DIVISION
BOBBIE JEAN LEADFORD, personal
representative of the Estate of Brian Bearden,
Plaintiff,
v.
BOCK INDUSTRIES, INC., an Indiana
corporation, et al.,
Defendants.

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) CAUSE NO. 1:16-cv-00439-JVB-SLC
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OPINION AND ORDER
On December 28, 2016, Plaintiff Bobbie Jean Leadford, personal representative of the
Estate of Brian Bearden, filed a complaint against Defendants Bock Industries, Inc., Bull Moose
Tube Company, and Franklin Lewis, alleging that this Court has diversity jurisdiction pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. (DE 1). In the complaint, Plaintiff alleges that she “resides” in Michigan,
that the deceased “resided” in Michigan, and that Lewis “resid[es] in . . . Indiana.” (DE 1 ¶¶ 2,
3, 6).
Plaintiff’s jurisdictional allegations are inadequate. As the party seeking to invoke
federal diversity jurisdiction, Plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that the requirement of
complete diversity has been met.1 Chase v. Shop’n Save Warehouse Foods, Inc., 110 F.3d 424,
427 (7th Cir. 1997).
Residency is meaningless for purposes of diversity jurisdiction; an individual’s
citizenship is determined by his or her domicile. Dakuras v. Edwards, 312 F.3d 256, 258 (7th

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Each party’s citizenship must be articulated as of “the time of the filing of the complaint,” rather than the
date the claims are alleged to have arisen or some other time material to the lawsuit. Multi-M Int’l, Inc. v. Paige
Med. Supply Co., 142 F.R.D. 150, 152 (N.D. Ill. 1992)

Cir. 2002); see Heinen v. Northrop Grumman Corp., 671 F.3d 669, 670 (7th Cir. 2012)
(“[R]esidence may or may not demonstrate citizenship, which depends on domicile—that is to
say, the state in which a person intends to live over the long run.” (citations omitted)); Guar.
Nat’l Title Co. v. J.E.G. Assocs., 101 F.3d 57, 58-59 (7th Cir. 1996) (explaining that statements
concerning a party’s “residency” are not proper allegations of citizenship as required by 28
U.S.C. § 1332). Therefore, Plaintiff must advise the Court of the domiciles of Plaintiff Bobbie
Jean Leadford, Defendant Franklin Lewis, and Brian Bearden (as of the time of his death).
Accordingly, Plaintiff is ORDERED to file on or before January 12, 2017, an amended
complaint that properly alleges the citizenship of the parties.
SO ORDERED.
Entered this 29th day of December 2016.
/s/ Susan Collins
Susan Collins,
United States Magistrate Judge

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