Dodo International Inc v. Parker

Opinion

THE HONORABLE JOHN C. COUGHENOUR 1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE 9 DODO INTERNATIONAL, INC., et al., CASE NO. C20-1116-JCC 10 Plaintiff, MINUTE ORDER 11 v. 12 RICHARD PARKER, et al., 13 Defendant. 14

15 The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable John C. 16 Coughenour, United States District Judge: 17 On December 30, 2020, the Court ordered the parties that have appeared to file corrected 18 corporate disclosure statements that comply with Local Civil Rule 7.1 and Plaintiffs to file an 19 amended complaint that properly alleges diversity jurisdiction. (See Dkt. No. 37.) The Court also 20 raised a concern that the presence of Klerson LLC, which filed a corporate disclosure statement 21 identifying one of its members as “a Cayman-based fund,” could be a citizen of a foreign 22 country, which could destroy the Court’s diversity jurisdiction. (See id. at 3–4.) The Court noted 23 that if Klerson LLC were a citizen of a foreign country, the Court would request additional 24 briefing regarding whether Klerson LLC was an indispensable party. (Id. at 4); see Faysound 25 Ltd. v. United Coconut Chems., Inc., 878 F.2d 290, 294 (9th Cir. 1989) (“Where an alien is made 26 co-defendant with a citizen-defendant by an alien plaintiff, . . . there is no jurisdiction over the 1 alien. If the alien defendant is indispensable . . . there is no jurisdiction at all.”) 2 Klerson LLC filed an amended corporate disclosure statement confirming that it is, in 3 fact, a foreign citizen. (See Dkt. No. 40 at 2.) In response, Plaintiffs filed an amended complaint 4 still naming Klerson LLC as a defendant and then a notice voluntarily dismissing their claims 5 against Klerson LLC with prejudice. (See Dkt. Nos. 41, 42.) 6 Upon further consideration, the Court declines to require additional briefing regarding 7 whether Klerson LLC is an indispensable party at this time because only one other defendant has 8 appeared. Any defendant that believes that Klerson LLC is an indispensable party may move to 9 dismiss on that basis at the appropriate time. 10 DATED this 18th day of February 2021. 11 William M. McCool Clerk of Court 12 s/Paula McNabb 13 Deputy Clerk 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26