Durham v. Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds LLC

Filing 5

OPINION AND ORDER: Dft to FILE on for before 2/27/2018, a supplemental jurisdictional statement that properly alleges the citizenship of all of Dft. Signed by Magistrate Judge Paul R Cherry on 2/13/2018. (lns)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
FORT WAYNE DIVISION
JOHN D. DURHAM,
Plaintiff,
v.
WONDERFUL PISTACHIOS &
ALMONDS LLC,
Defendant.

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CAUSE NO.: 1:18-CV-34-WCL-PRC

OPINION AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court sua sponte. The Court must continuously police its subject
matter jurisdiction. Hay v. Ind. State Bd. of Tax Comm’rs, 312 F.3d 876, 879 (7th Cir. 2002). The
Court must dismiss this action if the Court lacks subject matter jurisdiction. Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(h)(3).
Currently, the Court is unable to determine if it has subject matter jurisdiction over this litigation.
Defendant Wonderful Pistachios & Almonds invoked this Court’s subject matter jurisdiction
via diversity jurisdiction by removing this litigation to federal court. As the party seeking federal
jurisdiction, Defendant has the burden of establishing that subject matter jurisdiction exists. Smart
v. Local 702 Int’l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 562 F.3d 798, 802-03 (7th Cir. 2009).
For the Court to have diversity jurisdiction, Plaintiff John D. Durham and Defendant must
be citizens of different states, and the amount in controversy must be more than $75,000. Defendant
has alleged a sufficient amount in controversy and properly alleged that Plaintiff is a citizen of
Indiana. The allegations are insufficient as to the citizenship of Defendant.
The Notice of Removal alleges that Defendant is “a citizen of the State of Delaware and the
State of California because it is a Delaware limited liability company and has its principal place of
business in the State of California.” (Notice of Removal ¶ 20, ECF No. 1). This allegation is
insufficient for the purpose of determining citizenship. For limited liability companies, the state

whose laws under which the company was organized is not used to determine citizenship. A limited
liability company is analogous to a partnership and takes the citizenship of its members. Belleville
Catering Co. v. Champaign Mkt. Place, LLC, 350 F.3d 691, 692 (7th Cir. 2003). If the members of
the limited liability company are themselves limited liability companies, Defendant must also allege
the citizenship of those members as of the date the complaint was filed. Thomas v. Guardsmark,
LLC, 487 F.3d 531, 534 (7th Cir. 2007) (“[A]n LLC’s jurisdictional statement must identify the
citizenship of each of its members as of the date the complaint or notice of removal was filed, and,
if those members have members, the citizenship of those members as well.”). Defendant must allege
the citizenship of Defendant’s members, members of members, and so forth, tracing through all
layers of ownership.
Therefore, the Court ORDERS Defendant to FILE, on or before February 27, 2018, a
supplemental jurisdictional statement that properly alleges the citizenship of all of Defendant as
stated above.
SO ORDERED this 13th day of February, 2018.
s/ Paul R. Cherry
MAGISTRATE JUDGE PAUL R. CHERRY
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

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