Hunter v. St. Louis, City of
Filing
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MEMORANDUM AND ORDER...IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED without prejudice. An Order of Dismissal will be filed separately. Signed by District Judge Ronnie L. White on 7/15/2016. (NEB)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION
GEORGIA HUNTER,
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Plaintiff,
V.
CITY OF ST. LOUIS,
Defendant.
No. 4:15CV1579 RLW
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court on its own motion. The Court does not have subject
matter jurisdiction, and this case is dismissed.
Plaintiff alleges that Major Hunter, III, died on October 14, 2012, as the result of a car
accident in the City of St. Louis. She says that a pothole caused his car to go "airborne and
result[ed] in his death after hitting it." She seeks monetary damages.
Under Rule 12(h)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court is required to
review each case to determine whether subject matter exists, and the Court is required to dismiss
at any time if it determines that subject matter jurisdiction is lacking.
This is a state law claim, so federal question jurisdiction does not exist under 28 U.S.C.
§ 1331. Therefore, for plaintiff to bring this claim in federal court, diversity jurisdiction must
exist under 28 U.S.C. § 1332.
For diversity jurisdiction to exist, plaintiff and defendant must be "citizens of different
States." 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(l). " It is, to say the least, well settled that federal diversity
jurisdiction requires complete diversity, so that no defendant is a citizen of the same state as any
plaintiff." Walker v. Norwest Corp., 108 F.3d 158, 162 (8th Cir.1997). In this case, plaintiff
lives in Missouri and the City of St. Louis is in Missouri. Therefore, diversity jurisdiction does
not exist.
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that this action is DISMISSED without prejudice.
An Order of Dismissal will be filed separately.
Dated this
/S~y of July, 2016.
RONNIE L. WHITE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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