Shelby Personnel Services Unlimited, Inc. v. SFI Holdings, Inc. et al

Filing 12

ORDER on or before 15 days from entry of this Order, Pltf shall file response disclosing as to each Deft the names and citizenships, if any, of all constituent members, and, for any such constituent members that are limited liability companies or partnerships, to identify the citizenships of respective constituent members or partners until all such constituents are fully identified. Signed by District Judge Martin Reidinger on 1/19/13. (ejb)

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF NORTH CAROLINA
ASHEVILLE DIVISION
CIVIL CASE NO. 1:12cv155

SHELBY PERSONNEL SERVICES
UNLIMITED, INC.,

)
)
)
Plaintiff,
)
)
vs.
)
)
SFI HOLDINGS, LLC d/b/a Culinary )
Standards, RSW DISTRIBUTORIS,
)
LLC. d/b/a Culinary Standards,
)
AGRAGLOBAL FOODS, LLC,
)
WILLOWBROOK FOODS I, LLC,
)
and 212 NUWAY PACKING, LLC,
)
)
Defendants.
)
_________________________________)

ORDER

THIS MATTER is before the Court sua sponte to ascertain subject
matter jurisdiction.
The Plaintiff, a North Carolina corporation, initiated this action on
June 19, 2012 alleging state law claims and diversity jurisdiction. [Doc. 1].
In the Complaint, the Plaintiff alleges the following:
1. Defendant SFI Holdings, LLC (SFI Holdings) d/b/a Culinary
Standards is an Ohio limited liability company;
2. Defendant RSW Distributors, LLC (RSW) d/b/a Culinary Standards is
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an Ohio limited liability company;
3. Defendant Agraglobal Foods, LLC (Agraglobal) is a limited liability
company but its citizenship is not disclosed;
4. Defendant Willowbrook Foods I, LLC (Willowbrook) is an Ohio limited
liability company; and
5. Defendant 212 Nuway Packing (Nuway), LLC is an Ohio limited
liability company.
Although the Plaintiff has alleged that Defendant Willowbrook owns
and/or controls RSW, Nuway, and SFI Holdings, it has not disclosed the
constituent members of each of those limited liability companies. [Doc.
11-2].

As to Agraglobal, no membership or citizenship has been

disclosed.

Likewise, although the Plaintiff claims that Willowbrook

merged with all of these entities, the constituent memberships remain
unknown. [Id.].
Courts have an affirmative duty to question subject matter jurisdiction
even when the parties have not done so. Interstate Petroleum Corp. v.
Morgan, 249 F.3d 215 (4th Cir. 2001); Plyer v. Moore, 129 F.3d 728, 732
n.6 (4th Cir. 1997), cert. denied 524 U.S. 945, 118 S.Ct. 2359, 141 L.Ed.2d
727 (1998); 28 U.S.C. §1447(c)("If at any time before final judgment it
appears that the district court lacks subject matter jurisdiction, the case
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shall be remanded."). A limited liability company is a citizen of all states in
which its constituent members are citizens. Carden v. Arkoma Associates,
494 U.S. 185, 110 S.Ct. 1015, 108 L.Ed.2d 157 (1990). As noted, the
constituent members and/or partners of each of the Defendant has not
been disclosed; thus, complete diversity has not been shown. Moreover,
the ownership of any Defendant may involve multiple layers of noncorporate and/or non-human entities. This information must also be
furnished for all such layers of ownership.

The information must be

supplied for the ownership as of the date of the filing of this action. Grupo
Dataflux v. Atlas Global Group, L.P., 541 U.S. 567, 571, 124 S.Ct. 1920,
158 L.Ed.2d 866 (2004).
IT IS, THEREFORE, ORDERED that on or before fifteen (15) days
from entry of this Order, the Plaintiff shall file response disclosing as to
each Defendant the names and citizenships, if any, of all constituent
members, and, for any such constituent members that are limited liability
companies or partnerships, to identify the citizenships of the respective
constituent members or partners until all such constituents are fully
identified.
Signed: January 19, 2013

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