EURES v. HAVENPARK MANAGEMENT, LLC

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA NEW ALBANY DIVISION

REBECCA EURES, ) THERESA FRITZ, ) DAVID BOWLING, ) RICK ALTMEYER, ) WILLIAM NORRIS, ) VICKIE BOHNE, ) REBECCA CLARK, ) ) Plaintiffs, ) ) v. ) No. 4:23-cv-00184-TWP-KMB ) HAVENPARK MANAGEMENT, LLC, ) THE PINES OF NEW ALBANY, LLC, ) EMC PROPERTY AND CASUALTY ) COMPANY, ) ) Defendants. ) ) ) THE PINES OF NEW ALBANY, LLC, ) HAVENPARK MANAGEMENT, LLC, ) ) Counter Claimants, ) ) v. ) ) REBECCA EURES, ) ) Counter Defendant. )

SECOND ENTRY ON JURISDICTION On April 1, 2024, the Court ordered Defendants to file a Supplemental Jurisdictional Statement to establish this Court's jurisdiction over this case. Defendants were ordered to specifically identify the citizenship of Plaintiffs added in the Amended Complaint (the "Amendment Plaintiffs") and Defendant the Pines of New Albany, LLC (the "Pines of NA") (Filing No. 43). On April 12, 2024, Defendants filed their Supplemental Jurisdictional Statement (Filing No. 52). The Statement sufficiently alleges the citizenship of the Amendment Plaintiffs1 but again fails to sufficiently allege the citizenship of the Pines of NA. The Pines of NA has fifteen members. The Statement does not sufficiently allege the citizenship of three of those members: RH ACF Investments, LLC; TREO ACF, LLC; and AC Setting Fund, LLC. Id. at ¶¶ 33(c), (f), (g).

The Statement alleges "RH ACF Investments, LLC, has one member, Ricks Holdings, LLC, which has six members. The six members of Ricks Holdings, LLC, are irrevocable and recoverable [sic] trusts. The trustee of the member trusts is Joyce Ricks, who is domiciled in and a citizen of Utah." Id. at ¶ 33(c). These allegations do not adequately identify the citizenship of RH ACF Investments, LLC, because they fail to identify the "member trusts" of Ricks Holdings, LLC (Filing No. 43 at 4–5 (citing cases)). The Statement also alleges, "TREO ACF, LLC . . . is wholly owned by TREO Investments, LLC. The sole member of TREO Investments, LLC is KUMBA, LLC. The sole member of KUMBA, LLC, is Trevor Evans, who is domiciled in and a citizen of the State of Utah" (Filing No. 52 at ¶ 33(f)). The Statement further alleges, "AC Setting Fund, LLC . . . is wholly owned by

Red Rock Capital, LLC. Red Rock Capital, LLC, has two members, Landon Smith and Jennifer Smith, both of whom are domiciled in and citizens of the State of Utah." Id. at ¶ 33(g). These allegations do not sufficiently allege the citizenship of TREO ACF, LLC ("TREO ACF") or AC Setting Fund, LLC ("AC Setting"), because they do not identify the members of TREO ACF or AC Setting. They identify only the entities that "wholly own[]" TREO ACF and AC Setting. If the sole member of TREO ACF is TREO Investments, LLC, and the sole member of AC Setting is Red Rock Capital, LLC, then Defendants must say so. But if TREO ACF or AC Setting has other

1 Defendants' Statement also alleges the citizenship of additional parties that Plaintiffs seek to join in their Motion to Add Additional Plaintiffs (Filing No. 48). The Court appreciates Defendants' forethought and diligence in including the citizenship of the prospective new parties in their Statement. or additional members, then Defendants must identify each of those members and their respective state(s) of citizenship, even if those members are ultimately owned by TREO Investments, LLC, or Red Rock Capital, LLC, respectively. Meyerson v. Harrah's E. Chicago Casino, 299 F.3d 616, 617 (7th Cir. 200) (internal citations omitted)); see Middlemen Serv. Professionals, LLC y. Aion Memt., LLC, No. 23-cv-1336, 2024 WL 454975, at *2 (S.D. Ind. Feb. 6, 2024) (finding defendants did not adequately allege citizenship of limited liability company by asserting that "[the Defendant] is a wholly owned subsidiary of [another company]'—as opposed to identifying who the Defendant's members are" (emphasis in original)); Great Am. Assurance Co. v. Michel, No. 23- cv-1668, 2023 WL 6519499, at *1 (S.D. Ind. Oct. 5, 2023) (finding allegation identifying sole manager of limited liability company did not adequately identify members or citizenship). Therefore, Defendants are ORDERED to file a Second Supplemental Jurisdictional Statement that establishes the Court's jurisdiction over this case. This statement should specifically identify the members of RH ACF Investments, LLC, TREO ACF, LLC, and AC Setting Fund, LLC, and the state(s) of citizenship of each member. This second jurisdictional statement is due fourteen (14) days from the date of this Entry. SO ORDERED. Date: 4/16/2024 a A \ atta tk Hon. Tanya Walton Pratt, Chief Judge United States District Court Southern District of Indiana Distribution: J. David Agnew LORCH NAVILLE WARD LLC dagnew@Inwlegal.com Aj Bokeno Wilson Elser aj.bokeno@wilsonelser.com

Edward M. O'Brien WILSON, ELSER, MOSKOWITZ, EDELMAN & DICKER, LLP edward.obrien@wilsonelser.com

Meghan Eileen Ruesch LEWIS WAGNER, LLP mruesch@lewiswagner.com

Christopher Chase Wilson Lewis Wagner, LLP cwilson@lewiswagner.com