Leon v. Exxon Mobil Corporation

• Court: District Court, W.D. Washington
• Decided: October 3, 2025
• Docket: 2:25-cv-01190
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

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5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 8 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 9 10 MISTI LEON, as personal representative CASE NO. C25-1190 MJP of the ESTATE OF JULIANA LEON, 11 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE Plaintiff, 12 v. 13 EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION, et 14 al., 15 Defendants. 16 17 The Court issues this Order to Show Cause sua sponte after reviewing the Notice of 18 Removal and Plaintiff’s Motion to Remand. (Dkt. Nos. 1 & 56.) The Parties here dispute 19 whether Olympic Pipe Line Company, LLC has been fraudulently joined and whether its 20 presence might destroy diversity jurisdiction. To resolve the pending Motion and the disputed 21 issues, the Court requires more information about the citizenship of Olympic Pipe Line 22 Company, LLC. 23 24 1 For purposes of diversity jurisdiction, like a partnership, “an LLC is a citizen of every 2 state of which its owners/members are citizens.” Johnson v. Columbia Properties Anchorage, LP, 3 437 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2006). Missing from the record before the Court is adequate 4 information to assess the citizenship of Olympic Pipe Line Company, LLC. The Corporate

5 Disclosure Statement reveals only that the LLC is owned by two other LLCs: BP Midwest 6 Product Pipelines Holding LLC and SeaPort Pipeline Holdings, LLC. (Dkt. No. 50.) But neither 7 of these LLCs appears to be registered in Washington, and there is no information provided as to 8 their membership/ownership. The information provided does not allow the Court to determine 9 the ultimate citizenship of Defendant Olympic Pipe Line Company, LLC. Accordingly, 10 Defendant Olympic Pipe Line Company, LLC must disclose all members/owners of BP Midwest 11 Product Pipelines Holding LLC and SeaPort Pipeline Holdings, LLC to identify the citizenship 12 of these entities. Should other LLCs or partnerships own BP Midwest Product Pipelines Holding 13 LLC and SeaPort Pipeline Holdings, LLC, then the disclosure must continue until all individuals 14 and/or corporations who are members/owners of these entities are fully identified—the

15 citizenship disclosure cannot end with another LLC or partnership. 16 The Court ORDERS Olympic Pipe Line Company, LLC to file the requested information 17 in response to this Order within 7 days of entry of this Order. 18 The clerk is ordered to provide copies of this order to all counsel. 19 Dated October 3, 2025. A 20 21 Marsha J. Pechman United States Senior District Judge 22 23 24