This appeal arises from a dispute involving a nursing home, an estate, and a healthcare corporation. Lake City Nursing and Rehabilitation, LLC, sought to compel arbitration in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. To remove the case to federal court, Lake City relied on diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The case involved multiple parties, including the estate of Patricia Daniel, represented by Vicky Patterson, and Vitas Healthcare Corporation of Georgia. The Eleventh Circuit initially issued a jurisdictional question to determine if the pleadings adequately alleged the citizenship of all parties, a requirement for diversity jurisdiction. While the citizenship of the estate and the LLC was sufficiently alleged, the record lacked valid evidence establishing the citizenship of Vitas Healthcare.
The court analyzed whether the pleadings distinctly and affirmatively alleged the citizenship of all parties as required by 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1) and (c)(1). The court noted that a legal representative of an estate is a citizen of the same state as the decedent at the time of death, and an LLC is a citizen of the states where its members are citizens. The court found that the proposed amended notice of removal successfully alleged the citizenship of Lake City and Patterson. However, the court held that the record evidence and the proposed amended notice failed to establish Vitas's citizenship. Specifically, the court ruled that unsworn corporate disclosure forms are insufficient to establish citizenship under the statute. The court emphasized that when parties do not meet their burden, the courts must be vigilant in ensuring the requirements of diversity jurisdiction are met. Consequently, the court could not rule on the merits of the arbitration motion until the jurisdictional defect regarding Vitas was resolved.
The case is remanded to the district court for the limited purpose of determining Vitas Healthcare's citizenship. If the district court finds that complete diversity existed, it will enter an order to that effect and return the record to the Eleventh Circuit for further proceedings. If the district court finds that complete diversity did not exist, it must vacate its previous rulings and dismiss the action without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. This decision limits the current appeal to resolving the jurisdictional defect before the district court can proceed to the merits of the arbitration motion.