Seal v. Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC. et al

Filing 5

ORDER: Plaintiff Vicki Seal shall have 14 days to file an amended complaint which properly alleges the citizenship of Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC.. Signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Riedlinger on 12/8/2011. (LSM)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

VICKIE SEAL
CIVIL ACTION
VERSUS
NUMBER 11-718-BAJ-SCR
WAL-MART STORES, INC., ET AL
ORDER TO AMEND COMPLAINT
Defendant Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. removed this case from state
court asserting subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332,
diversity of citizenship.
Amended

Petition,

filed

Plaintiff’s First Supplemental and
after

removal,

substituted

Wal-Mart

Louisiana, LLC as the defendant in place of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.1
Plaintiff’s

amended

15(a)(1)(B), Fed.R.Civ.P.

complaint

is

timely

under

Rule

However, in a removed case in which

jurisdiction depends on citizenship, the court must also take into
account the provisions of 28 U.S.C. 1447(e), which provides, in
relevant part, as follows:
(e) If after removal the plaintiff seeks to join
additional defendants whose joinder would destroy subject
matter jurisdiction, the court may deny joinder, or
permit joinder and remand the action to the State court.
Plaintiff’s First Supplemental and Amended Petition names WalMart Louisiana, LLC as the new defendant and alleges that it is “a
foreign limited liability company authorized to do and doing
business in the State of Louisiana.”

1

Record document number 4.

When subject matter jurisdiction depends on citizenship, the
citizenship of each party must be distinctly and affirmatively
alleged in accordance with § 1332(a) and (c).2
Under § 1332(c)(1) a corporation is deemed to be a citizen of
every state in which it is incorporated and of the state in which
it has its principal place of business. For purposes of diversity,
the citizenship of a limited liability company is determined by
considering the citizenship of all its members.3
allege

the

citizenship

of

a

limited

Thus, to properly

liability

company,

the

citizenship of its members must be alleged in accordance with §
1332(a) and (c).4
Plaintiff’s

jurisdictional

allegation

regarding

Wal-Mart

Louisiana, LLC are not sufficient for the court to determine
whether its joinder will have any impact on diversity jurisdiction.
Based

on

a

review

of

other

removed

cases

in

which

Wal-Mart

2

Stafford v. Mobil Oil Corp., 945 F.2d 803, 804 (5th Cir.
1991), citing, McGovern v. American Airlines, Inc., 511 F.2d 653,
654 (5th Cir. 1975)(quoting 2A Moore’s Federal Practice ¶ 8.10, at
1662).
3

Harvey v. Grey Wolf Drilling Co., 542 F.3d 1077, 1080 (5th
Cir. 2008); see Carden v. Arkoma Associates, 494 U.S. 185, 110
S.Ct. 1015, 1021 (1990).
4

The same requirement applies to any member of a limited
liability company which is also a limited liability company or a
partnership.
Turner Bros. Crane and Rigging, LLC v. Kingboard
Chemical Holding Ltd., 2007 WL 2848154 (M.D.La. Sept. 24,
2007)(when partners or members are themselves entities or
associations, citizenship must be traced through however many
layers of members or partners there are).
2

Louisiana, LLC is a defendant, it appears that its joinder in this
case would not destroy diversity jurisdiction.5

Nonetheless, the

court cannot determine from simply reviewing other case records
whether the membership of Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC has changed since
those cases were removed.

Although that is unlikely, the better

course is for the plaintiff to file an amended complaint which
properly alleges the citizenship of Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC.6
Therefore;
IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff Vicki Seal shall have 14 days to
file an amended complaint which properly alleges the citizenship of
Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC.
Failure

to

comply

with

this

order

may

result

in

the

Plaintiff’s First Supplemental and Amended Petition case being
stricken.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, December 8, 2011.

STEPHEN C. RIEDLINGER
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

5

See, e.g. Jones v. Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC, et al., CV 11738-JJB-DLD, removed October 31, 2011; London v. Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc., et al., removed May 24, 2011; Stockstill v. Wal-Mart Stores,
Inc., et al., CV 10-95-FJP-SCR, removed February 5, 2010.
6

The citizenship of Wal-Mart Louisiana, LLC is not an
adjudicative fact which can be judicially noticed pursuant to Rule
201, Fed.R.Evid.
3