Jaqueline Flores v. State of California, Department of Motor Vehicles

United States District Court for the Central District of California

Jaqueline Flores v. State of California, Department of Motor Vehicles

Trial Court Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 12 JAQUELINE FLORES, ) CV 19-6581-RSWL-SS ) 13 Plaintiff, ) ) ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE: 14 ) SUBJECT MATTER v. ) JURISDICTION AND TIMELY 15 ) REMOVAL ) 16 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, DEP’T ) OF MOTOR VEHICLES, JAVIER ) 17 GUANGORENA, and DOES 1-50 ) ) 18 ) Defendants. ) 19 ) ) 20 ) 21 Defendant State of California, Department of Motor 22 Vehicles (“DMV”) filed its Notice of Removal [1] on 23 July 30, 2019. In its Notice of Removal, with regard 24 to the citizenship of Plaintiff Jacqueline Flores 25 (“Plaintiff”), DMV stated, “Complete diversity of 26 citizenship exists between Plaintiff JACQUELINE FLORES 27 (hereinafter ‘Plaintiff’), a citizen of the State of 28 Texas, and Defendant DMV, a California state agency.” 1 Notice of Removal 2:3-6, ECF No. 1. But in support of 2 diversity jurisdiction, DMV states that “Plaintiff 3 alleges that she is a resident of the state of Texas.” 4 Id. at 2:17-19. To invoke diversity jurisdiction, DMV 5 must prove complete diversity of citizenship between 6 the parties.

28 U.S.C. § 1332

. A natural person’s 7 state citizenship is “determined by her state of 8 domicile, not her state of residence.” Kanter v. 9 Warner-Lambert Co.,

265 F.3d 853, 857

(9th Cir. 2001). 10 A notice of removal “alleging diversity of 11 citizenship upon information and belief is 12 insufficient” to prove complete diversity. Bradford v. 13 Mitchell Bros. Truck Lines,

217 F. Supp. 525, 527

(N.D.

14 Cal. 1963

); see Doherty v. Ocwen Fin. Corp., No. CV 15 14-7118 PA (Ex),

2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131247

, at *4 16 (C.D. Cal. Sep. 16, 2014) (remanding case when the 17 defendant alleged the plaintiffs’ citizenship based 18 solely on “information and belief”). Further, DMV did 19 not support its claim that removal of this Action was 20 timely. As such, DMV is HEREBY ORDERED to show, in 21 writing, on or before November 15, 2019, evidence of 22 Plaintiff’s citizenship and timely removal or this 23 Action will be remanded. 24 IT IS SO ORDERED. 25 26 DATED: November 6, 2019 /s/ Ronald S.W. Lew 27 HONORABLE RONALD S.W. LEW Senior U.S. District Judge 28

Reference

Status
Unknown