Background
Plaintiff Rolanda Johnson-Shorter appealed a district court order dismissing her complaint against Smith Transport LLC and Gerald Tickle. The defendants had removed the case to federal court, but the notice of removal did not sufficiently establish the citizenship of the limited liability company to invoke diversity jurisdiction.
The court’s reasoning
The court held that a limited liability company is a citizen of any state where a member is a citizen, requiring parties to list the citizenships of all members. The court noted that unsworn statements are not evidence and cannot cure jurisdictional deficiencies without admissible record evidence. Because the defendants did not submit admissible evidence of citizenship and the plaintiff contested the amount in controversy, the court could not resolve the jurisdictional issue on the current record.
What it means going forward
The district court must now determine whether diversity jurisdiction existed at the time of removal. If jurisdiction existed, the case returns to federal court; if not, the action must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.