Opinion
CAUSE NO.: 2:17-CV-249-TLS
06-11-2019
ORTHOPEDIC PHYSICAL THERAPY SPECIALISTS, LLC, Plaintiff, v. INCREMEDICAL, LLC, Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
This matter is before the Court sua sponte. The Court must continuously police its subject matter jurisdiction. Hay v. Ind. State Bd. of Tax Comm'rs, 312 F.3d 876, 879 (7th Cir. 2002).
The Complaint alleges that the Court's original subject matter jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. (Compl., ECF No. 1, ¶ 3.) Diversity jurisdiction exists when the parties to an action on each side are citizens of different states, with no defendant a citizen of the same state as any plaintiff, and the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.00. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1). As the party seeking to invoke this Court's jurisdiction, the Plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that the jurisdictional requirements have been met. Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77, 96 (2010); Smart v. Local 702 Int'l Bhd. of Elec. Workers, 562 F.3d 798, 802-03 (7th Cir. 2009). A failure to meet that burden can result in a dismissal. See Mut. Assignment & Indem. Co. v. Lind-Waldock & Co., LLC, 364 F.3d 858, 861 (7th Cir. 2004). In this case, the Plaintiff has sufficiently alleged that the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000.00.
However, the Plaintiff has not properly alleged the citizenship of the Plaintiff or of the Defendant, both of which are limited liability companies. A limited liability company is analogous to a partnership and takes the citizenship of its members. Belleville Catering Co. v. Champaign Mkt. Place, LLC, 350 F.3d 691, 692 (7th Cir. 2003). If the members of the limited liability company are themselves limited liability companies, the Plaintiff must also plead the citizenship of those members as of the date the Complaint was filed. Thomas v. Guardsmark, LLC, 487 F.3d 531, 534 (7th Cir. 2007) ("[A]n LLC's jurisdictional statement must identify the citizenship of each of its members as of the date the complaint or notice of removal was filed, and, if those members have members, the citizenship of those members as well."). In this case, the Plaintiff identified each limited liability company's state of formation and principal place of business, neither of which is a factor for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. (See ECF No. 1, ¶¶ 1, 2.) Therefore, the Plaintiff must allege the citizenship of each member of the Plaintiff Orthopedic Physical Therapy Specialists, LLC and each member of the Defendant Incremedical, LLC.
Accordingly, the Court ORDERS the Plaintiff to FILE, on or before, June 25, 2019, a supplemental jurisdictional statement identifying the citizenship of each member of the Plaintiff Orthopedic Physical Therapy Specialists, LLC and the citizenship of each member of the Defendant Incremedical, LLC. If any of the members themselves have members, the Plaintiff must identify the citizenship of those members and so on until the citizenship of all owners and members of members of both limited liability companies have been identified.
SO ORDERED on June 11, 2019.
s/ Theresa L. Springmann
CHIEF JUDGE THERESA L. SPRINGMANN
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT