BIOSAFE ENGINEERING, LLC v. NEW WORLD WASTE SOLUTIONS, LLC et al

Filing 7

ENTRY ON JURISDICTION - 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 the citizenship of the member(s) of New World Waste Solutions, LLC. This jurisdictional statement is due fourteen (14) days from the date of this Entry. (See Entry.) Signed by Judge Tanya Walton Pratt on 3/23/2017.(JLS)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA
INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

BIOSAFE ENGINEERING, LLC,

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Plaintiff,
v.
NEW WORLD WASTE SOLUTIONS, LLC,
BEN ZION ALCALAY,
Defendants.

Case No. 1:17-cv-00816-TWP-MPB

ENTRY ON JURISDICTION
It has come to the Court’s attention that the 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 Defendant. Citizenship is the
operative consideration for jurisdictional purposes.
Furthermore, jurisdictional allegations must be made on personal knowledge, not on
information and belief, to invoke the subject matter jurisdiction of a federal court. See America's
Best Inns, Inc. v. Best Inns of Abilene, L.P., 980 F.2d 1072, 1074 (7th Cir. 1992) (only a statement
about jurisdiction “made on personal knowledge has any value,” and a statement made “ ‘to the
best of my knowledge and belief’ is insufficient” to invoke diversity jurisdiction “because it says
nothing about citizenship”); Page v. Wright, 116 F.2d 449, 451 (7th Cir. 1940) (an allegation of a
party's citizenship for diversity purposes that is “made only upon information and belief” is
unsupported).

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The Complaint alleges that “Defendant New World Waste Solutions, LLC is a citizen of
Florida and based upon information and belief the citizenship of its member(s) is Florida.” (Filing
No. 1 at 2.) This allegation made upon information and belief is not sufficient to allow the Court
to determine whether diversity jurisdiction exists.
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 the
citizenship of the member(s) of New World Waste Solutions, LLC. This jurisdictional statement
is due fourteen (14) days from the date of this Entry.
SO ORDERED.

Date: 3/23/2017

Distribution:
Kristopher N. Kazmierczak
KATZ & KORIN P.C.
[e-mail]
Offer Korin
KATZ & KORIN P.C.
[e-mail]

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