TRIPLE FARMS OF INDIANA, LLC v. SYNGENTA SEEDS, INC. et al

Filing 5

ENTRY on Jurisdiction - Plaintiff is ORDERED to file a Supplemental Jurisdictional Statement that establishes the Court's jurisdiction over this case. This jurisdictional statement is due 14 days from the date of this Entry. Signed by Judge Tanya Walton Pratt on 12/16/2014.(TRG)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION
TRIPLE E FARMS OF INDIANA, LLC on
behalf of itself and all others similarly situated,
Plaintiff,
vs.
SYNGENTA SEEDS, INC.,
SYNGENTA CORPORATION,
SYNGENTA CROP PROTECTION, LLC,
Defendants.

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Case No. 1:14-cv-02014-TWP-MJD

ENTRY ON JURISDICTION
It has come to the Court’s attention that Plaintiff’s Complaint fails to allege all of the facts
necessary to determine whether this Court has subject matter jurisdiction over this case. The
Complaint alleges that this Court has jurisdiction based upon diversity of citizenship. However,
the Complaint fails to sufficiently allege the citizenship of the Plaintiff and the citizenship of
Defendant Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC. Citizenship is the operative consideration for
jurisdictional purposes. See Meyerson v. Harrah’s East Chicago Casino, 299 F.3d 616, 617 (7th
Cir. 2002) (“residence and citizenship are not synonyms and it is the latter that matters for purposes
of the diversity jurisdiction”).
“For diversity jurisdiction purposes, the citizenship of an LLC is the citizenship of each of
its members.” Thomas v. Guardsmark, LLC, 487 F.3d 531, 534 (7th Cir. 2007). “Consequently, an
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.” Id.

The Complaint alleges that Plaintiff Triple E Farms of Indiana, LLC “is a citizen of Indiana
because each of its members is a citizen of only Indiana,” but the Complaint fails to specifically
identify any of the members of the Plaintiff (Filing No. 1 at 4). Similarly, the Complaint fails to
allege the names and citizenship of the members of Defendant Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC
(Filing No. 1 at 5).
Therefore, the Plaintiff is ORDERED to file a Supplemental Jurisdictional Statement that
establishes the Court’s jurisdiction over this case. This statement should specifically identify each
of the members of the Plaintiff and their citizenship as well as the names and citizenship of each
of the members of Defendant Syngenta Crop Protection, LLC. This jurisdictional statement is due
14 days from the date of this Entry.
SO ORDERED.

Date: 12/16/2014

Distribution:
Scott D. Gilchrist
COHEN & MALAD LLP
[e-mail]

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