GEON PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS, LLC v. AUTOMATED INGREDIENT SYSTEMS, LLC

• Court: District Court, S.D. Indiana
• Decided: August 22, 2025
• Docket: 1:25-cv-00983
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

GEON PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS, ) LLC, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 1:25-cv-00983-JPH-MKK ) AUTOMATED INGREDIENT SYSTEMS, ) LLC, ) ) Defendant. )

ORDER ON JURISDICTION Plaintiff GEON Performance Solutions, LLC filed a complaint alleging that this Court has diversity jurisdiction over this matter. Dkt. 1. For the Court to have diversity jurisdiction, the amount in controversy must exceed $75,000, exclusive of interest and costs, and the litigation must be between citizens of different states. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). For diversity jurisdiction purposes, "the citizenship of an LLC is the citizenship of each of its members." Thomas v. Guardsmark, LLC, 487 F.3d 531, 534 (7th Cir. 2007). For LLCs, parties must "work back through the ownership structure until [reaching] either individual human beings or a formal corporation with a state of incorporation and a state of principal place of business." Baez-Sanchez v. Sessions, 862 F.3d 638, 641 (7th Cir. 2017); Thomas, 487 F.3d at 534. Here, GEON's Rule 7.1 filing states that it is an LLC, and its sole member is SK Echo Group S.a.r.l., a Luxembourg business entity. Dkt. 5. "A S.A.R.L. is a 'société à responsabilité limitée.' Several countries, including Luxembourg, France, and Switzerland, use the S.A.R.L. There is no controlling law in this circuit, much less in any other circuit, regarding whether a S.A.R.L. should be considered a limited liability company or a corporation for purposes of diversity of citizenship." Arcelormittal Ind. Harbor LLC v. Amex Nooter, LLC, 194 F. Supp. 3d 804, 816 (N.D. Ind. 2016). Whether a S.A.R.L. is treated as an LLC orasa corporation determines what additional information the Court needs to be assured of its subject-matter jurisdiction here. See Jenkins v. ArcelorMittal USA LLC, 2020 WL 487149, at *2 (N.D. Ind. Jan. 30, 2020) (Kolar, J.). Therefore, the Court ORDERS GEON to file a jurisdictional statement by September 19, 2025 addressing the following: (1) its position on whether SK Echo Group S.a.r.l. should be considered either an LLC or a corporation for purposes of diversity jurisdiction; (2) the citizenship and corporate form of SK Echo Group's members, to the extent it should be treated as an LLC; and (3) SK Echo Group's country of incorporation and principal place of business, to the extent it should be treated as a corporation. SO ORDERED. Date: 8/22/2025 Sjamnu Patnaik Hanbore James Patrick Hanlon United States District Judge Southern District of Indiana

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