Opinion
No. 04 C 1645
March 3, 2004
MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER
Paul and Marilee Perlin (collectively "Perlins") have . . . sued Thomas and Deana Slater (collectively "Slaters") and Slater's Americana, Inc. ("Americana"), seeking to invoke federal subject matter jurisdiction on diversity of citizenship grounds. Because Perlins' counsel has not properly alleged subject matter jurisdiction in two respects, this memorandum order is issued sua sponte to require those errors to be corrected promptly.
Although Complaint ¶ 3 does the job properly as to Americana, identifying both facets of its corporate citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(c)(1), Complaint ¶¶ 1 and 2 refer only to the individual parties' places of residence and not to their states of citizenship (by definition the relevant fact for diversity purposes). Even thoughHeld v. Held, 137 F.3d 998, 1000 (7th Cir. 1998) calls for dismissal in such circumstances, this Court is loath to stick Perlins with an extra $150 filing fee because of their counsel's mistake if (as is most often the case) the individuals' states of citizenship do correspond to their places of residence.
Accordingly Perlins' counsel is ordered to file in this Court's chambers on or before March 12, 2004 (with a copy to be transmitted contemporaneously to Slaters and Americana or, if their counsel is known, to that counsel) an amendment to the Complaint (not a self-contained Amended Complaint, which would only waste a lot of paper) that amends Complaint ¶¶ 1 and 2 by identifying the individual parties' states of citizenship. Because Perlins should not be required to pay for their counsel's oversight, no charge is to be made to them for the added work and expense incurred in correcting the Complaint's errors. Perlins' counsel is ordered to apprise his clients to that effect by letter, with a copy to be transmitted to this Court's chambers as an informational matter (not for filing).