Opinion
CAUSE NO. 1:17-cv-00008-JVB-SLC
01-11-2017
PREMIER TRUCK RENTAL, LLC, Plaintiff, v. ONE SOURCE T&D, LLC, Defendant.
OPINION AND ORDER
On January 10, 2017, Plaintiff Premier Truck Rental, LLC, filed a complaint against Defendant One Source T&D, LLC, alleging that this Court has diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. (DE 1). As to Plaintiff, the complaint alleges: "All members of Premier are citizens of the State of Indiana." (DE 1 ¶ 1). The complaint further alleges that Defendant is an Oklahoma limited liability company with a principal place of business in Oklahoma. (DE 1 ¶ 2).
Plaintiff's jurisdictional allegations inadequately set forth the citizenship of the parties. As the party seeking to invoke federal diversity jurisdiction, Plaintiff bears the burden of demonstrating that the requirement of complete diversity has been met. Chase v. Shop'N Save Warehouse Foods, Inc., 110 F.3d 424, 427 (7th Cir. 1997).
A limited liability company's citizenship "for purposes of . . . diversity jurisdiction is the citizenship of its members." Cosgrove v. Bartolotta, 150 F.3d 729, 731 (7th Cir. 1998). Thus, the Court must be advised of the identity of each member of Plaintiff and Defendant, and such member's citizenship. Hicklin Eng'g, L.C. v. Bartell, 439 F.3d 346, 347 (7th Cir. 2006). Plaintiff cannot merely allege a "naked declaration that there is diversity of citizenship" in its complaint. Thomas v. Guardsmark, LLC, 487 F.3d 531, 533 (7th Cir. 2007); see generally Guar. Nat'l Title Co. v. J.E.G. Assocs., 101 F.3d 57, 59 (7th Cir. 1996) (explaining that the court would "need to know the name and citizenship(s)" of each partner for diversity jurisdiction purposes). "[C]itizenship of unincorporated associations must be traced through however many layers of partners or members there may be." Meyerson v. Harrah's East Chi. Casino, 299 F.3d 616, 617 (7th Cir. 2002) (citations omitted).
Therefore, Plaintiff is ORDERED to supplement the record on or before January 25, 2017, by filing an amended complaint that properly alleges the citizenship of the parties, tracing such citizenship through all applicable layers of ownership.
SO ORDERED.
Enter for this 11th day of January 2017.
/s/ Susan Collins
Susan Collins,
United States Magistrate Judge