American Senior Benefits,LLC v. King et al

Filing 26

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER: IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants' Motion for Jurisdictional Discovery (ECF No. 16 ) is GRANTED. The parties shall conduct the deposition of Mr. Sweeney, for the limited purpose of determining jurisdiction, no later than February 15, 2017. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall file any supplemental briefing related to the amount in controversy no later than February 22, 2017. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the hearing on the Motion for Preliminary Injunction will be reset for March 1, 2017 at 11 :00 a.m., if necessary. (Motion Hearing set for 3/1/2017 11:00 AM in Courtroom 10S before District Judge Ronnie L. White.) Signed by District Judge Ronnie L. White on February 8, 2017. (BRP)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI
EASTERN DIVISION

AMERICAN SENIOR BENEFITS, LLC,
Plaintiff,
V.

HOLLY KING and TARA ZIKA,
Defendants.

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No. 4:17-CV-223 RLW

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court on Defendants' Motion for Jurisdictional Discovery (ECF
No. 16). In conjunction with their Memorandum in Opposition to Motion to Remand (ECF No.
15), Defendants ask this Court to allow them to conduct some limited jurisdictional discovery. In
the Motion for Jurisdictional Discovery, Defendants note that Mr. Sweeney' s affidavit in support
of the Motion to Remand discusses ASB ' s "override" or "highest override percentage" to
estimate the damages at issue. (ECF No. 16). Defendants then "request permission, should the
Court find additional discovery necessary or helpful, to depose co-owner of ASB, Jim Sweeney,
regarding jurisdictional facts including the affidavit attached to ASB ' s motion to remand and the
attachments thereto, and the amount in controversy in this case." Plaintiff has not filed an
opposition to the Motion for Jurisdictional Discovery, nor has Plaintiff filed a reply in support of
its Motion to Remand. The Court agrees that discovery is warranted. "Discovery is not limited
to the merits of a case; ' where issues arise as to jurisdiction or venue, discovery is available to
ascertain the facts bearing on such issues."' Pudlowski v. The St. Louis Rams, LLC, 829 F.3d
963, 964 (8th Cir. 2016) (quoting Oppenheimer Fund, Inc. v. Sanders, 437 U.S. 340, 351 n. 13,

98 S.Ct. 2380, 57 L.Ed.2d 253 (1978) (citation omitted). Here, discovery is necessary to
determining the meaning of "override" or "highest override percentage" in order to determine the
proper measure of damages and the amount in controvery.
Accordingly,
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that Defendants' Motion for Jurisdictional Discovery (ECF

No. 16) is GRANTED. The parties shall conduct the deposition of Mr. Sweeney, for the limited
purpose of determining jurisdiction, no later than February 15, 2017 .
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the parties shall file any supplemental briefing

related to the amount in controversy no later than February 22, 2017.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the hearing on the Motion for Preliminary Injunction

will be reset for March 1, 2017 at 11 :00 a.m ., if necessary.

Dated this 8th day of February, 2017.

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RONNIE L. WHITE
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

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