Davis v. Meagher Oil & Gas Properties Inc

Filing 6

MEMORANDUM ORDER: Meagher should file an Amended Notice of Removal by January 30, 2009. A scheduling conference will be set in due course. Signed by Magistrate Judge Mark L Hornsby on 1/13/09. (crt,Kennedy, Tara)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA SHREVEPORT DIVISION

JOHN P. DAVIS, JR. VERSUS MEAGHER OIL & GAS PROPERTIES, INC.

CIVIL ACTION NO. 08-cv-1638 JUDGE HICKS MAGISTRATE JUDGE HORNSBY

MEMORANDUM ORDER
Meagher removed this case based on an assertion of diversity jurisdiction, which imposes upon it the burden of presenting facts sufficient to ensure the existence of jurisdiction. Meagher alleges in paragraph six of its Notice of Removal that Plaintiff

John Davis "is an individual residing in Caddo Parish, Louisiana." It is domicile rather than mere residency that decides citizenship for diversity purposes, and

"[ut

is well established that an allegation of residency does not satisfy the

requirement of an allegation of citizenship." Great Plains Trust Co. v. Morgan Stanley, 313 F.3d 305, 310 n. 2 (5th Cir. 2002), quoting Strain v. Harrelson Rubber Co., 742 F.2d 888 (5th Cir. 1984). Mr. Davis may be a resident of Louisiana and one or more other states, but he is a domiciliary and citizen of only one state at any given time. Meagher must allege the state in which Mr. Davis was domiciled at the relevant time. Meagher should file an

Amended Notice of Removal by January 30, 2009 to address this issue. A scheduling conference will be set in due course.

THUS DONE AND SIGNED in Shreveport, Louisiana, this 13th day of January, 2009. _~~~TTETIciL~. MARK L. HORNSBY UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE~JLDGE

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