Tendler v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.

Filing 24

NOTICE AND ORDER: Plaintiff is hereby NOTIFIED that her Memorandum in Support of Diversity of Citizenship is not sufficient to adequately allege the citizenship of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC. In keeping with the Court's 2/24/2017 20 Order, P laintiff is ORDERED to file, on or before 5/10/2017, a Motion to Amend Complaint that attaches a proposed pleading that adequately alleges the citizenship of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC. Signed by Magistrate Judge Erin Wilder-Doomes on 4/27/2017. (LLH)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
MIDDLE DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
SUSAN TENDLER
CIVIL ACTION
VERSUS
NO. 16-361-JJB-EWD
HOBBY LOBBY STORES, INC.
NOTICE AND ORDER
On February 10, 2017, Plaintiff, Susan Tendler (“Plaintiff”) filed an Unopposed Motion to Amend
Complaint for Damages to Name Additional Defendant.1

By her proposed First Amended and Restated

Complaint for Damages, Plaintiff seeks to add Hillsdale Furniture, LLC (“Hillsdale”) as a defendant.
On February 13, 2017, the court ordered Plaintiff to file a motion to substitute her proposed First
Amended and Restated Complaint for Damages with a proposed pleading that properly set forth the
citizenship of Hillsdale.2 The court stated that Plaintiffs’ proposed substitute pleading “shall state whether
Hillsdale Furniture, LLC is a limited liability company or a corporation. In the event Hillsdale Furniture,
LLC is a corporation, the proposed pleading shall set forth Hillsdale’s place of incorporation and principal
place of business. In the event Hillsdale Furniture, LLC is a limited liability company, the proposed
pleading shall allege the citizenship of each member in accordance with the requirements of § 1332(a)
and (c).”3 The court further explained that to properly allege the citizenship of a limited liability company,
a party must identify each of the members of the limited liability company and the citizenship of each
member in accordance with the requirements of § 1332(a) and (c). The same requirement applies to any
member of a limited liability company which is also a limited liability company. See, Turner Bros. Crane
and Rigging, LLC v. Kingboard Chemical Holding Ltd., 2007 WL 2848154, at *4-5 (M.D. La. Sept. 24,

1

R. Doc. 13.

2

R. Doc. 14.

3

R. Doc. 14, p. 4.

1

2007) (“when partners or members are themselves entities or associations, the citizenship must be traced
through however many layers of members or partners there may be, and failure to do [sic] can result in
dismissal for want of jurisdiction.”) (quotation and citation omitted).
On February 21, 2017, Plaintiff filed a Motion to Substitute.4 Per Plaintiff’s proposed substitute
pleading, Hillsdale Furniture, LLC is “a Delaware Limited Liability Company which is doing business in
the state of Louisiana.”5 Plaintiff’s proposed pleading alleges that “[u]pon information and belief, the
members of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC are either David Brill or Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC or both.
Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC is also a Delaware Limited Liability Company.” 6 The court again
noted that the citizenship of Hillsdale had not been adequately alleged and explained:
To the extent David Brill is an individual and a member of Hillsdale, Mr.
Brill’s domicile must be alleged. See, Mas v. Perry, 489 F.2d 1396, 1399
(5th Cir. 1974) (“For diversity purposes, citizenship means domicile, mere
residence in the State is not sufficient.”). To the extent Hillsdale Furniture
Holdings, LLC is also a member of Hillsdale, the citizenship of Hillsdale
Furniture Holdings, LLC must be alleged by setting forth the members of
Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC and those members’ citizenship.7
Apparently recognizing that her allegations of citizenship were insufficient, Plaintiff requested either that
this court accept her proposed Supplemental First Amended and Restated Complaint for Damages or “that
she be allowed a reasonable opportunity to conduct jurisdictional discovery.”8 On February 24, 2017, the
court granted Plaintiff leave to conduct limited jurisdictional discovery solely for the purpose of
determining the members of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC and the citizenship of those members.9

4

R. Doc. 15.

5

R. Doc. 13-2, ¶ 2(2).

6

R. Doc. 15-5, ¶ 3.

7

R. Doc. 20, pp. 2-3.

8

R. Doc. 15, ¶ 5.

9

R. Doc. 20.

2

Additionally, the court denied Plaintiff’s Motion to Substitute10 and denied Plaintiff’s Unopposed Motion
to Amend Complaint for Damages to Name Additional Defendant11 without prejudice to Plaintiff’s right
to file a motion to amend that properly set forth the citizenship of the parties, including the citizenship of
Hillsdale Furniture, LLC. The court granted Plaintiff 75 days, or until May 10, 2017, to file a motion to
amend her complaint for the sole purpose of naming Hillsdale as an additional defendant.12
On April 24, 2017, rather than filing the anticipated motion for leave to amend her complaint,
Plaintiff filed a Memorandum in Support of Diversity of Citizenship.13 Therein, Plaintiff explains that:
At the time of the filing of [Plaintiff’s Motion to Substitute] plaintiff was
unable to confirm the domicile of the members of Hillsdale Furniture
Holdings, LLC, however, this Honorable Court afforded plaintiff 60 days
to conduct limited discovery on the issue. Plaintiff contacted defendant,
Hillsdale Furniture, LLC and requested any information on the membership
and domicile of Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC. Based on the
representation of defendant, Hillsdale Furniture, LLC, plaintiff respectfully
suggests that the member(s) of the Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC are
domiciled in Kentucky and thus are diverse from plaintiff. As such, plaintiff
respectfully requests that this Honorable Court GRANT her motion to
amend her complaint.14
Although it appears that Plaintiff has reached out to Hillsdale to determine its citizenship, Plaintiff still
has not adequately alleged Hillsdale’s citizenship. As set forth above, Plaintiff must explicitly set forth
the members of Hillsdale (i.e., Plaintiff’s previous allegation that the “members of Hillsdale Furniture,
LLC are either David Brill or Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC or both” is insufficient). In the event a
member of Hillsdale is an individual, that individual’s domicile must be alleged. In the event a member
of Hillsdale is a corporation, that corporation’s principal place of business and state of incorporation must

10

R. Doc. 15.

11

R. Doc. 13.

12

R. Doc. 20.

13

R. Doc. 22.

14

R. Doc. 22, pp. 1-2. Plaintiff provides no additional explanation or documentation.

3

be alleged. See, Getty Oil, Div. of Texaco v. Ins. Co. of North America, 841 F.2d 1254, 1259 (5th Cir.
1988) (In diversity cases involving corporations, “allegations of citizenship must set forth the state of
incorporation as well as the principal place of business of each corporation.”). In the event a member of
Hillsdale is a limited liability company or other form of unincorporated association, the members of that
association must be explicitly named and the citizenship of each member must be alleged (i.e., if Hillsdale
Furniture Holdings, LLC is indeed a member of Hillsdale, then each member of Hillsdale Furniture
Holdings, LLC must be stated and the citizenship of each member alleged). Plaintiff’s assertion that “the
member(s) of the Hillsdale Furniture Holdings, LLC are domiciled in Kentucky and thus are diverse from
plaintiff,” without more, is not sufficient to tell this court who the members of Hillsdale are and what the
citizenship of each member is. Moreover, this court previously denied Plaintiff’s Unopposed Motion to
Amend Complaint for Damages to Name Additional Defendant without prejudice to Plaintiff’s right to
file a motion to amend that properly sets forth the citizenship of the parties, including the citizenship of
Hillsdale Furniture, LLC.15 Plaintiff has until May 10, 2017 to file her motion to amend.
Accordingly,
Plaintiff is hereby NOTIFIED that her Memorandum in Support of Diversity of Citizenship is not
sufficient to adequately allege the citizenship of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC.
In keeping with this court’s February 24, 2017 Notice and Order, and to the extent Plaintiff wishes
to move to amend her complaint to add Hillsdale Furniture, LLC as an additional defendant, Plaintiff is
ORDERED to file, on or before May 10, 2017, a Motion to Amend Complaint that attaches a proposed
pleading that adequately alleges the citizenship of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC (i.e., explicitly alleges the
members of Hillsdale Furniture, LLC and each of those members’ citizenship according to the particular
rules set forth above regarding individuals, corporations, and unincorporated associations). As before,

15

R. Doc. 13 & R. Doc. 20.

4

Plaintiff’s proposed pleading must be comprehensive (i.e., it cannot incorporate by reference any previous
pleading). No further leave of court shall be necessary if Plaintiff files her motion to amend on or before
the May 10, 2017 deadline.
Signed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on April 27, 2017.

S
ERIN WILDER-DOOMES
UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE

5