Premier Truck Rental, LLC v. One Source T&D, LLC

Filing 5

OPINION AND ORDER: Plaintiff is ORDERED to supplement the record on or before 1/25/2017 by filing an amended complaint that properly alleges the citizenship of the parties, tracing such citizenship through all applicable layers of ownership. Signed by Magistrate Judge Susan L Collins on 1/11/17. (nal)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
FORT WAYNE DIVISION
PREMIER TRUCK RENTAL, LLC,
Plaintiff,
v.
ONE SOURCE T&D, LLC,
Defendant.

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) CAUSE NO. 1:17-cv-00008-JVB-SLC
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OPINION AND ORDER
On January 10, 2017, Plaintiff Premier Truck Rental, LLC, filed a complaint against
Defendant One Source T&D, LLC, alleging that this Court has diversity jurisdiction pursuant to
28 U.S.C. § 1332. (DE 1). As to Plaintiff, the complaint alleges: “All members of Premier are
citizens of the State of Indiana.” (DE 1 ¶ 1). The complaint further alleges that Defendant is an
Oklahoma limited liability company with a principal place of business in Oklahoma. (DE 1 ¶ 2).
Plaintiff’s jurisdictional allegations inadequately set forth the citizenship of the parties.
As the party seeking to invoke federal diversity jurisdiction, Plaintiff bears the burden of
demonstrating that the requirement of complete diversity has been met. Chase v. Shop’N Save
Warehouse Foods, Inc., 110 F.3d 424, 427 (7th Cir. 1997).
A limited liability company’s citizenship “for purposes of . . . diversity jurisdiction is the
citizenship of its members.” Cosgrove v. Bartolotta, 150 F.3d 729, 731 (7th Cir. 1998). Thus,
the Court must be advised of the identity of each member of Plaintiff and Defendant, and such
member’s citizenship. Hicklin Eng’g, L.C. v. Bartell, 439 F.3d 346, 347 (7th Cir. 2006).
Plaintiff cannot merely allege a “naked declaration that there is diversity of citizenship” in its
complaint. Thomas v. Guardsmark, LLC, 487 F.3d 531, 533 (7th Cir. 2007); see generally Guar.

Nat’l Title Co. v. J.E.G. Assocs., 101 F.3d 57, 59 (7th Cir. 1996) (explaining that the court would
“need to know the name and citizenship(s)” of each partner for diversity jurisdiction purposes).
“[C]itizenship of unincorporated associations must be traced through however many layers of
partners or members there may be.” Meyerson v. Harrah’s East Chi. Casino, 299 F.3d 616, 617
(7th Cir. 2002) (citations omitted).
Therefore, Plaintiff is ORDERED to supplement the record on or before January 25,
2017, by filing an amended complaint that properly alleges the citizenship of the parties, tracing
such citizenship through all applicable layers of ownership.
SO ORDERED.
Enter for this 11th day of January 2017.
/s/ Susan Collins
Susan Collins,
United States Magistrate Judge

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