"The Most Gullible Man in Cambridge" is Ordered to Show Cause Why His Complaint Should Not Be Dismissed

In August, I blogged about Professor Bruce Hay’s pro se case. He  sued New York Media LLC, a Delaware LLC that is headquartered in New York, as well as a former and current employee of New York Magazine. Hay relied on 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a) to establish diversity jurisdiction. But he failed to establish the citizenship of each member of the LLC.

Now, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has issued an order to show cause why the complaint should not be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Judge Oteken’s order is two paragraphs:

Plaintiff invokes this Court’s diversity jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1332. However, the Complaint does not adequately demonstrate the Court’s subject matter jurisdiction because it does not allege the citizenship of each of the members of the LLC defendant. The state of registration and headquarters location of a limited liability company are irrelevant to the question of diversity of citizenship under § 1332. Rather, for purposes of diversity jurisdiction, an LLC has the citizenship of each of its members. See ICON MW, LLC v. Hofmeister, 950 F. Supp. 2d 544, 546 (S.D.N.Y. 2013) (citing Bayerische Landesbank v. Aladdin Capital Mgmt. LLC, 692 F.3d 42, 49 (2d Cir. 2012)). Thus, in order to invoke this Court’s diversity jurisdiction, Plaintiff must allege that the citizenship of each member of the LLC defendant was diverse from that of Plaintiff at the date of this action’s filing. Therefore, Plaintiff shall, on or before October 7, 2020, either (1) show cause as to why its complaint should not be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, or (2) move to file an amended complaint that properly pleads jurisdiction. If Plaintiff fails to do so, this action may be dismissed.

Last week, an attorney made a notice of appearance for Hay. Perhaps Hay will file an amended complaint.