McDaniel v. General Growth Services

Filing 7

ORDER TO AMEND COMPLAINT: Plaintiff Dawn McDaniel shall have ten days to file an amended complaint which properly alleges the citizenship of defendants Mall of Louisiana, LLC d/b/a Mall of Louisiana, and Xencom Facility Management, LLC. Failure to comply with this order may result in the case being dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction without further notice. Signed by Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Riedlinger on 7/1/2015. (LLH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA

DAWN MCDANIEL
CIVIL ACTION
VERSUS
NUMBER 15-331-SDD-SCR
GENERAL GROWTH SERVICES, INC.
D/B/A MALL OF LOUISIANA
ORDER TO AMEND COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Dawn McDaniel filed a Complaint asserting subject
matter

jurisdiction

citizenship.

under

28

U.S.C.

§

1332,

diversity

of

Plaintiff filed an Unopposed First Amending and

Supplemental Complaint for Damages on June 29, 2015, joining as
defendants Mall of Louisiana, LLC d/b/a Mall of Louisiana, and
Xencom Facility Management, LLC.1
plaintiff

alleged

that

each

is

As to both defendants, the
“a

foreign

limited

liability

company,” and as to Xencom Facility Management also alleged that it
has its principal place of business in Texas.
When jurisdiction depends on citizenship, the citizenship of
each

party

accordance

must
with

be
§

distinctly

1332(a)

and

and
(c).2

affirmatively
Under

§

alleged

1332(c)(1)

in
a

corporation is deemed to be a citizen of any state in which it is

1

2

Record document number 5.

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).

incorporated, and of the state in which it has its principal place
of business.
limited

For purposes of diversity, the citizenship of a

liability

company

is

determined

citizenship of all its members.3

by

considering

the

Thus, to properly allege the

citizenship of a limited liability company, the party asserting
jurisdiction must identify each of the entity’s members and the
citizenship of each member in accordance with the requirements of
§ 1332(a) and (c).4
Plaintiff’s jurisdictional allegations as to defendants Mall
of Louisiana, LLC d/b/a Mall of Louisiana, and Xencom Facility
Management,

LLC,

jurisdiction.

are

not

sufficient

to

establish

diversity

The state where a limited liability company is

organized and where it has its principal place of business does not
determine its citizenship.

And while it is unlikely that either

defendant has a member who or which is a Louisiana citizen, the
court cannot assume the facts needed to establish the existence of
subject matter jurisdiction.
Therefore;

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

IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff Dawn McDaniel shall have ten days
to file an amended complaint which properly alleges the citizenship
of defendants Mall of Louisiana, LLC d/b/a Mall of Louisiana, and
Xencom Facility Management, LLC.
Failure to comply with this order may result in the case being
dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction without further
notice.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana, July 1, 2015.

STEPHEN C. RIEDLINGER
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

3