Opinion
Civil No.: 20-15655 (KSH) (CLW)
05-06-2021
THS GROUP LLC, Plaintiff, v. COVALENT MARKETING, LLC, IBM, JSL ENTERPRISES, LLC, ACOUSTIC, L.P., MGAGE, and MOBILE MARKETING, Defendants.
ORDER
THIS MATTER having come before the Court on the report and recommendation (D.E. 56) of Magistrate Judge Cathy L. Waldor, recommending that this action be remanded to the Superior Court of New Jersey for lack of federal subject matter jurisdiction; and
WHEREAS, the District Court may "accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the magistrate judge," 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1); see also Fed. R. Civ. P. 72(b)(3) ("The district judge may accept, reject, or modify the recommended disposition; receive further evidence; or return the matter to the magistrate judge with instructions."); L. Civ. R. 72.1(c)(2) (district judge "may accept, reject, or modify, in whole or in part, the findings or recommendations made by the Magistrate Judge," and "may consider the record developed before the Magistrate Judge, making his or her own determination on the basis of that record."); and
WHEREAS, no party has filed objections to the report and recommendation, and the time for filing objections has expired; and
WHEREAS, this Court has reviewed the record and given "reasoned consideration" to the report and recommendation, see EEOC v. Long Branch, 866 F.3d 93, 99-100 (3d Cir. 2017); and
WHEREAS, the report and recommendation properly concluded that diversity jurisdiction is lacking where the plaintiff and at least one defendant are both citizens of the same state, see Zambelli Fireworks Mfg. Co. v. Wood, 592 F.3d 412, 419 (3d Cir. 2010) ("Complete diversity requires that, in cases with multiple plaintiffs or multiple defendants, no plaintiff be a citizen of the same state as any defendant"); and
WHEREAS, the report and recommendation properly concluded that the record reflects that plaintiff and defendant Acoustic L.P. are both citizens of New Jersey, or, alternatively, Pennsylvania, and that therefore the parties are not completely diverse; and
WHEREAS, remand is required if it appears at any time before final judgment that subject matter jurisdiction is lacking, see 28 U.S.C. § 1447(c),
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS, on this 6th day of May, 2021,
ORDERED that the report and recommendation (D.E. 56) is ADOPTED; and it is further
ORDERED that this case is REMANDED to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Middlesex County.
The Clerk of the Court is directed to close this case.
/s/ Katharine S. Hayden
Katharine S. Hayden, U.S.D.J.