Whitaker v. Land Endeavors, L.L.C.

Filing 20

MEMORANDUM ORDER re citizenship of Land Endeavors. If Plaintiff contests the assertion that Land Endeavors was improperly joined, he must file a motion to remand by 7/26/2010. If Plaintiff does not timely file a motion to remand, the court will consider Plaintiff to concede the point, Land Endeavors will be dismissed, and the case will proceed toward a Scheduling Order.Signed by Magistrate Judge Mark L Hornsby on 6/22/2010. (crt,Keifer, K)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT W E S T ER N DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA S H R E V EP O R T DIVISION

D A V I D WHITAKER VERSUS L A N D ENDEAVORS, LLC, ET AL

C I V I L ACTION NO. 09-cv-1944 J U D G E WALTER M A G I S T R A T E JUDGE HORNSBY

M E M O R A N D U M ORDER Da vid Whitaker ("Plaintiff") filed this civil action against Land Endeavors, LLC and C h e s a p e a k e Louisiana, LP. Chesapeake removed the case based on an assertion of diversity j u r is d i c ti o n . Chesapeake acknowledged that Plaintiff and Land Endeavors appear to both be L o u i s i a n a citizens, which would destroy diversity, but Chesapeake asserted that the citizens hip of Land Endeavors should be ignored pursuant to the improper joinder doctrine, w h i c h is outlined in Smallwood v. Illinois Central RR Co., 385 F.3d 568 (5th Cir. 2004). If Plaintiff contests the assertion that Land Endeavors was improperly joined, he must file a motion to remand, supported by a memorandum, by July 26, 2010 and explain why t h e r e is a reasonable basis to predict that state law would allow Plaintiff to recover against L a n d Endeavors. If Plaintiff timely files a motion to remand, it will be noticed for briefing s o that Chesapeake can respond and attempt to meet its burden on the improper joinder issue.

If Plaintiff does not timely file a motion to remand and challenge the improper joinder p l e a , the court will consider Plaintiff to concede the point, Land Endeavors will be dismissed, and the case will proceed toward a Scheduling Order. T H U S DONE AND SIGNED in Shreveport, Louisiana, this 22nd day of June, 2010.