Opinion
No. 00 C 3626
June 20, 2000
MEMORANDUM ORDER
Telemark Development Group, Inc. ("Telemark") has brought this action against John Mengelt ("Mengelt"), invoking federal jurisdiction on diversity of citizenship grounds. This memorandum order is issued sua sponte to direct Telemark to cure an obvious defect in its jurisdictional allegations.
There is no problem with Telemark's identification of both facets of its corporate citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (c)(1) (see Complaint ¶ 1), nor is there any doubt as to the existence of the requisite amount in controversy (Complaint ¶ 17 alleges that the stock Telemark seeks to recover has a value of some $1.6 million). But as to Mengelt, Complaint ¶ 2 speaks only of his Lake Forest, Illinoisresidence, although by definition it is his state of citizenship that determines the presence or absence of diversity.
As might be expected, our Court of Appeals regularly teaches that such a flaw, if uncured, mandates dismissal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction (most recently, see Tylka v. Gerber Prods. Co., 211 F.3d 445, 448 (7th Cir. 2000) and cases cited there). As stated in Held v. Held, 137 F.3d 998, 1000 (7th Cir. 1998), quoting Guaranty Nat'l Title Co. v. J.E.G. Assocs., 101 F.3d 57, 59 (7th Cir. 1996)):
Of course, allegations of residence are insufficient to establish diversity jurisdiction. It is well-settled that "[w]hen the parties allege residence but not citizenship, the court must dismiss the suit."
Accordingly Telemark is allowed until June 27, 2000 to file in this Court's chambers a suitable amendment to the Complaint specifying Mengelt's state of citizenship, failing which this Court would be constrained to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Because it would seem most likely that the defect referred to here is readily curable, this Court is concurrently entering its usual order specifying an initial status hearing date and other matters on the assumption that Telemark will take the necessary step to keep this action in court.