1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 MARIA MANZANO, Case No.: 20cv0121-L-AGS

12 Plaintiff, ORDER REMANDING ACTION TO 13 v. STATE COURT 14 MATHIAS MORGAN MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LLC, et al. 15 Defendants. 16

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18 On January 8, 2020, Defendants removed this wage and hour action from State 19 court pursuant to

and 1441. The action was filed as case no. 20cv63, 20 and remanded because Defendants failed to establish the citizenship of all parties. (Case 21 no. 20cv63, doc. no. 3.) On January 17, 2020, Defendants again removed the action. For 22 the reasons stated below, the action is remanded. 23 "Federal courts are courts of limited jurisdiction. They possess only that power 24 authorized by Constitution or statute, which is not to be expanded by judicial decree. It is 25 to be presumed that a cause lies outside this limited jurisdiction, and the burden of 26 establishing the contrary rests upon the party asserting jurisdiction." Kokkonen v. 27 Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am.,

(1994) (citations omitted). Consistent 28 with the limited jurisdiction of federal courts, the removal statute is strictly construed 1 against removal. Gaus v. Miles, Inc.,

(9th Cir. 1992). The burden of 2 establishing removal jurisdiction is on the removing party. See Abrego Abrego v. The 3 Dow Chem. Co.,

(9th Cir. 2006). 4 “[A]ny civil action brought in a State court of which the district courts of the 5 United States have original jurisdiction, may be removed . . ..”

(a). 6 Defendants’ notice of removal is based on

. Under section 1332(a), 7 original jurisdiction exists in cases where the amount in controversy exceeds $75,000 and 8 the case is "between citizens of different states." To meet the requirement of diversity of 9 citizenship, Defendants must show "complete diversity of citizenship." Caterpillar, Inc. 10 v. Lewis,

(1996). This requirement is met when "the citizenship of each 11 plaintiff is diverse from the citizenship of each defendant."

12 The removing party is required to allege diversity, which includes "alleg[ing] 13 affirmatively the actual citizenship of the relevant parties." Kanter v. Warner-Lambert, 14

(9th Cir. 2001). According to the underlying complaint, Plaintiff is a 15 citizen of California. (Doc. no. 1-6 at 4 (Complaint at 2); see also doc. no. 1 at 5 (Notice 16 of Removal at 5).) Defendants Ellison and Jill Morgan are citizens of Oregon. (Doc. no. 17 1-6 at 169 (Decl. of Jill Morgan at 2).) Defendant Mathias Morgan Management 18 Company, LLC ("MMMC") is a limited liability company. (Id.) For purposes of 19 diversity jurisdiction the citizenship of a limited liability company is determined by 20 examining the citizenship of each of its members. Carden v. Arkoma Assoc.,

(1990); Johnson v. Columbia Properties Anchorage. L.P.,

, 899 22 (9th Cir. 2006). Defendants represent that MMMC “is a single member limited liability 23 company,” its sole member and manager being Jill Morgan. (Doc. no. 1 at 5 (Notice of 24 Removal at 4).) Although they cite to Exhibits 12 and 13, the exhibits, Oregon Secretary 25 of State, Business Entry Data and Amended Annual Report (doc. no. 1-6 at 163-65), and 26 Ms. Morgan’s declaration (doc. no. 1-6 at 168-70) do not support the assertion that she is 27 MMMC’s sole member. Defendants rely on the same declaration they filed in support of 28 the previous unsuccessful removal. (Cf. case no. 20cv63, doc. no. 1-2 at 40-42; case no. 1 20cv121, doc. no. 1-6 at 168-170 (both dated Jan. 8, 2020).) Accordingly, Defendants 2 || have not met their burden to establish MMMC's citizenship and allege the citizenship of 3 parties. The notice of removal fails to establish federal jurisdiction. 4 "If at any time before final judgment it appears that the district court lacks subject 5 || matter jurisdiction, the case shall be remanded."

(c). This action is 6 || therefore remanded to the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of San 7 || Diego. 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 10 || Dated: February 4, 2020 pee ep? 12 H . James Lorenz, 3 United States District Judge

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