SPECTREVISION INDUSTRIES LLC v. ALMOST NEVER FILMS INC.

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA INDIANAPOLIS DIVISION

SPECTREVISION INDUSTRIES LLC, ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) No. 1:22-cv-01852-JPH-MPB ) ALMOST NEVER FILMS INC., ) DANNY CHAN, ) ) Defendants. )

ORDER ON JURISDICTION Plaintiff, Spectrevision Industries LLC, has filed a Complaint alleging that this Court has diversity jurisdiction over this matter. Dkt. 1 at 2. 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, Plaintiff is an LLC but does not identify each of its members or their citizenship. See dkt. 1 at 1–2. Counsel has an obligation to analyze subject-matter jurisdiction, Heinen v. Northrop Grumman Corp., 671 F.3d 669, 670 (7th Cir. 2012), and "[a] federal court must assure itself of subject matter jurisdiction in every case," Boim v. American Muslims for Palestine, 9 F.4th 545, 551-52 (7th Cir. 2021). The Court's obligation includes knowing the details of the underlying jurisdictional allegations. See Evergreen Square of Cudahy v. Wis. Hous. and Econ. Dev. Auth., 776 F.3d 463, 465 (7th Cir. 2015) ("[T]he parties' united front is irrelevant since the parties cannot confer subject-matter jurisdiction by agreement... and federal courts are obligated to inquire into the existence of jurisdiction sua sponte."). Therefore, the Court ORDERS Plaintiff to file a jurisdictional statement by October 20, 2022, addressing the issue identified in this order. SO ORDERED. Date: 9/21/2022

James Patrick Hanlon United States District Judge Southern District of Indiana Distribution: Charles Lee Mudd, Jr. MUDD LAW OFFICES cmudd@muddlawoffices.com