UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA SHREVEPORT DIVISION

RODNEY KEENER CIVIL ACTION NO. 20-cv-0303

VERSUS CHIEF JUDGE HICKS

GREAT WEST CASUALTY CO ET AL MAGISTRATE JUDGE HORNSBY

MEMORANDUM ORDER Rodney Keener (“Plaintiff)” filed this civil suit in state court for damages arising out of an auto accident. Defendants Great West Casualty Co. (“Great West”), Salem Carriers, Inc. (“Salem”), and Shawn Ingram removed the case to federal court based on an assertion of diversity jurisdiction, which puts the burden on them to allege specific facts that show complete diversity of citizenship and an amount in controversy greater than $75,000. The undersigned issued a memorandum order (Doc. 5) that ordered the removing defendants to allege the states of incorporation and principal places of business of Great West and Salem. The order outlined the rules for establishing the citizenship of a corporation and stated that the notice of removal must set forth “with specificity” a corporate party’s state of incorporation and its principal place of business. The removing defendants filed an amended notice of removal (Doc. 6), which alleged that Great West “was incorporated in the State of Nebraska and is domiciled in the State of Nebraska.” Similarly, the amended notice alleged that Salem “was incorporated in the State of North Carolina and is domiciled in the State of North Carolina.” Stating that a corporation is “domiciled in” a state is too vague to be an allegation of its citizenship “with specificity.” Baker Pile Driving & Site Work, LLC v. Ragnar Benson Construction, LLC,

(W.D. La. 2018). The removing defendants are ordered to again amend their notice of removal by May 5, 2020 and attempt to meet their burden to stay in federal court. The amended notice of removal should include allegations that “Great West Casualty Company is a corporation incorporated in the State of Nebraska with its principal place of business in the state of .’ and “Salem Carriers, Inc. is a corporation incorporated in the State of North Carolina with its principal place of business in in the state of OA corporation’s principal place of business is where its high-level officers direct, control, and coordinate the corporation’s activities. This place is sometimes described as the “nerve center” of the corporation. Hertz Corp. v. Friend,

(2010). THUS DONE AND SIGNED in Shreveport, Louisiana, this 21st day of April, 2020.

jer MARK L. HORNSBY | UNITED STATES MAGISTRATR JUDGE

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