Nickless-Purcell v. The RMR Group LLC

• Court: District Court, S.D. California
• Decided: September 15, 2025
• Docket: 3:24-cv-01718
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 BABETTE NICKLESS-PURCELL, Case No. 24-cv-01718-BAS-DTF

12 Plaintiff, ORDER REQUIRING DEFENDANT 13 v. TO IDENTIFY ABP TRUSTEE(S) AND CITIZENSHIP OF ABP 14 THE RMR GROUP LLC, TRUSTEE(S) 15 Defendant. 16 The Court is preparing to rule on Defendant The RMR Group LLC’s Motion to 17 Compel Arbitration. (ECF No. 5.) The Court’s analysis of its subject matter jurisdiction is 18 incomplete, however. 19 Defendant removed this case to federal court under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 diversity 20 jurisdiction. (ECF No. 1.) Defendant is a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”). “[A]n LLC 21 is a citizen of every state of which its owners/members are citizens.” Johnson v. Columbia 22 Props. Anchorage, LP, 437 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2006). 23 In its Notice of Removal, Defendant listed ABP Trust as one of its LLC members. 24 (ECF No. 1.) Defendant’s subsequent Notice of Party with Financial Interest, however, 25 stated only that ABP Trust is “owned” by another trust. (ECF No. 2.) 26 Under Ninth Circuit case law, “[a] trust has the citizenship of its trustee or trustees.” 27 Johnson, 437 F.3d at 899 (citing Navarro Sav. Ass’n v. Lee, 446 U.S. 458 (1980)). Without 28 information on ABP Trust’s trustee(s) and the trustee(s)’ citizenship, the Court cannot 1 |}confirm complete diversity. Providing this information will also bring Defendant in 2 || compliance with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1(a)(2). 3 The Court ORDERS Defendant to either file an amended Notice of Party with 4 || Financial Interest under Rule 7.1(a)(2) or file a response on the docket specifying (a) the 5 || trustee(s) of the ABP Trust as well as (b) the citizenship of the trustee(s) of the ABP Trust. 6 || To emphasize, if a trust or another entity is the trustee of the ABP Trust, Defendant should 7 |\identify that trustee’s citizenship. The amendment or response shall be filed on or 8 || before Friday, September 19, 2025. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 ~ 11 || DATED: September 15, 2025 (yatta Bahar □□ D H n. Cynthia Bashant, Chief Judge United States District Court 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28