Lawson v. Cajun Realty, LLC

Filing 36

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action shall be REMANDED to the Circuit Court of the City of Saint Louis. A separate order of remand shall accompany this order. Signed by District Judge John A. Ross on 5/5/15. (ARL)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION

KEVIN LAWSON,
Plaintiff,
v.
CAJUN REALTY, LLC, et al.,
Defendants.

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No. 4:14-CV-1381-JAR

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This action is before the Court for case management purposes. On August 8, 2014,
Defendant Cajun Realty, LLC (“Cajun Realty”) removed this case from the Circuit Court for the
City of St. Louis, Missouri (Case No. 1422-CC09076) alleging this Court had jurisdiction
pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a) as the parties were diverse and the amount in controversy was
met. At the time, the only parties in the case were Plaintiff Kevin Lawson, a citizen of Missouri,
and Cajun Realty, an LLC whose sole member is Cajun Operating Company, a Delaware
corporation with its principle place of business in Georgia.
On April 7, 2015, Plaintiff filed a Motion for Joinder of Additional Parties in which he
sought to add Bourdeau Construction LLC, Bourdeau Contracting LLC, James Bourdeau, and
Sizemore's Painting as Defendants (Doc. 29). The Court granted Plaintiff’s Motion for Joinder of
Additional Parties and directed Plaintiff to file a notice with the Court properly alleging the
citizenship of the newly joined Defendants on or before April 27, 2015 (Doc. 31). Plaintiff
complied with this order (Doc. 32). Subsequently, the Court directed Plaintiff to file an amended
complaint (Doc. 33) and, on May 1, 2015, Plaintiff filed a second amended complaint (Doc. 34).

Upon review of Plaintiff’s second amended complaint, the Court concludes that the Court
no longer has subject matter jurisdiction pursuant to section 1332 because the parties are no
longer diverse. 28 U.S.C. § 1447 (“If after removal the plaintiff seeks to join additional
defendants whose joinder would destroy subject matter jurisdiction, the court may . . . permit
joinder and remand the action to the State court.”) Several of the newly joined Defendants, like
Plaintiff, are citizens of Missouri for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Specifically, Defendant
James Bourdeau is a citizen of Missouri and, because Bourdeau is the sole member of
Defendants Bourdeau Construction, LLC and Bourdeau Contracting, LLC, both of these
Defendants are also citizens of Missouri.
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action shall be REMANDED to the Circuit Court
of the City of Saint Louis. A separate order of remand shall accompany this order.
Dated this 5th day of May, 2015.

JOHN A. ROSS
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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