William Z. Wyatt v. 633 Toyopa Drive, LLC ( 2019 )

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL MINUTES - GENERAL Case No. CV 19-6458 FMO (GJSx) Date August 12, 2019 Title William Z. Wyatt, et al. v. 633 Toyopa Drive, LLC Present: The Honorable Fernando M. Olguin, United States District Judge Vanessa Figueroa None None Deputy Clerk Court Reporter / Recorder Tape No. Attorney Present for Plaintiff(s): Attorney Present for Defendant(s): None Present None Present Proceedings: (In Chambers) Order to Show Cause Re: Diversity of Citizenship The court is in receipt of plaintiffs’ complaint. (See Dkt. 1, Complaint). Plaintiffs invoke this court’s diversity jurisdiction, (see id. at J 1), and allege that they are citizens of New York State. (See id. at J 2). Plaintiffs further allege that defendant, 633 Toyopa Drive, LLC, is “a California Limited Liability Company, is organized pursuant to the laws of the State of California, with its principal place of business in California and is only a citizen of California.” (Id. at {| 3). Limited liability companies (“LLCs”) are treated like partnerships rather than corporations and are deemed “a citizen of every state of which [their] owners/members are citizens.” Johnson v. Columbia Props. Anchorage, LP, 437 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2006); see Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Global Grp., L.P., 541 U.S. 567, 569, 124 S.Ct. 1920, 1923 (2004) (“[A] partnership . . . is a citizen of each State or foreign country of which any of its partners is a citizen.”). “There is no such thing as ‘a [state name] limited partnership’ for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. There are only partners, each of which has one or more citizenships.” Hart v. Terminex Int'l, 336 F.3d 541, 544 (7th Cir. 2003) (internal quotation marks omitted). Moreover, “[aJn LLC’s principal place of business [or] state of organization is irrelevant” for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. See Buschman v. Anesthesia Business Consultants LLC, 42 F.Supp.3d 1244, 1248 (N.D. Cal. 2014); Tele Munchen Fernseh GMBH & Co Produktionsgesellschaft v. Alliance Atlantis Int'l Distribution, LLC, 2013 WL 6055328, *4 (C.D. Cal. 2013) (“As a limited liability company, [defendant]’s principal place of business is irrelevant for purposes of diversity jurisdiction.”). If a member of an LLC is a corporation, then the state of incorporation and its principal place of business must be shown. Because it appears that plaintiffs may not have taken into consideration the distinction between the citizenship of a corporation and that of an LLC, and have therefore not adequately set forth defendant’s citizenship, the court cannot determine whether it has subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, IT |S ORDERED THAT no later than August 19, 2019, plaintiffs shall file a First Amended Complaint (“FAC”) in which they identify the citizenship and residence of each of defendant’s partners, members, and owners. Failure to file a FAC by the deadline set forth above shall be deemed as consent to dismiss this action for lack of subject matter Cv-90(0604) `` □□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□ Page lof 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA CIVIL MINUTES - GENERAL Case No. CV 19-6458 FMO (GJSx) Date August 12, 2019 Title William Z. Wyatt, et al. v. 633 Toyopa Drive, LLC jurisdiction, failure to prosecute, and/or failure to comply with a court order. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b); Link v. Wabash R.R. Co., 370 U.S. 626, 629-30, 82 S.Ct. 1386, 1388 (1962). 00 : 00 Initials of Preparer vdr CV-90 (06/04) CIVIL MINUTES - GENERAL Page 2 of 2