Meritage Homes of Texas LLC v. de Villiers

• Court: District Court, S.D. Texas
• Decided: January 10, 2024
• Docket: 4:23-cv-02931
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT January 10, 2024 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS Nathan Ochsner, Clerk HOUSTON DIVISION

MERITAGE HOMES OF TEXAS LLC, § § Plaintiff, § § VS. § CIVIL ACTION NO. 4:23-CV-02931 § GYSBERT DE VILLIERS, et al., § § Defendants. §

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

I. INTRODUCTION Before the Court is the defendants, Gysbert de Villiers and Qi de Villiers’, joint motion to dismiss (Doc. 7) brought under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(1) asserting that the plaintiff, Meritage Homes of Texas, LLC’s, Complaint lacks subject matter jurisdiction to maintain this action. The Court, being duly advised of the premises, DENIES said motion. II. FACTUAL BACKGROUND This action stems from the defendants alleged violation of a binding arbitration agreement. The arbitration agreement stems from the defendants purchase of a home, from the plaintiffs, resulting in a suit being filed in state court. In the state court action, the parties agreed to arbitration and created a binding arbitration agreement. The parties dispute the terms of the arbitration agreement in this Court.

1 CONTENTIONS OF THE PARTIES The defendants argue that diversity jurisdiction does not exist because the plaintiffs 2021 tax return states its principal place of business is located in Texas. Therefore, both parties are residents of Texas, and the Court thus lacks diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a). The plaintiff opposes arguing that it has satisfied diversity jurisdiction, because when determining an LLC’s jurisdiction, the courts look to the citizenship of each member of the LLC. IV. DISCUSSION The issue before the Court is whether diversity jurisdiction exist between the parties such that the Court may maintain this action. The parties do not dispute that the amount of controversy in this action exceeds $75,000. “Complete diversity ‘requires that all persons on one side of the controversy be citizens of different states than all persons on the other side.’” Harvey v. Grey Wolf Drilling Co., 542 F.3d 1077, 1079 (5th Cir. 2008). Nor do they dispute that, “the citizenship of an LLC is determined by the citizenship of all of its members” Jd. The record reflects that the plaintiff is wholly owned by Meritage Homes of Texas Holdings, Inc. (“Meritage”) as a sole member. Meritage is an Arizona company with a principal place of business in Scottsdale, Arizona. The record further reflects that the defendants are Texas residents. Therefore, complete diversity exists under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, and the defendants’ motion is DENIED. It is so ORDERED. SIGNED on January 10, 2024, at Houston, 7

United States District Judge