UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA ROANOKE DIVISION

) DOUGLAS B. PHILLIPS ) ) Plaintiff, ) Civil Action No. 7:21cv00032 ) v. ) MEMORANDUM OPINION ) ROBERT H. VOLLGRAFF, et al., ) By: Hon. Thomas T. Cullen ) United States District Judge Defendants. )

Douglas Phillips brings this action alleging that defendants Robert Volgraff and Joseph Phillips fraudulently deprived him of the benefits of an annuity policy. (See ECF No. 2 at 4.) He seeks the court’s leave to proceed in forma pauperis against these defendants. Having reviewed Phillips’s application and complaint, the court grants his request to proceed in forma pauperis but concludes that it lacks jurisdiction over his complaint under

. Therefore, the court will dismiss Phillips’s complaint under

(e)(2)(B)(ii). The alleged basis for this court’s jurisdiction over Phillips’s state-law cause of action is diversity jurisdiction under

. (See

.) The exercise of diversity jurisdiction requires that the cause of action concern an amount in controversy greater than $75,000 and that the parties in the action be completely diverse. Complete diversity requires that every defendant reside in a different state than the plaintiff. See Strawbridge v. Curtiss,

,

(1806). Phillips’s action is not completely diverse and is therefore beyond this court’s jurisdiction. It is clear from the face of the complaint that Phillips and defendant Vollgraff both reside in the state of Virginia. (See ECF No. 2 at 1–2.) Thus, the case lacks complete diversity and is beyond this court’s diversity jurisdiction. See Strawbridge,

.). Therefore, the court will dismiss Phillips’s complaint under

(e)(2)(B)(ii).

ENTERED this 9th day of February, 2021.

_/_s/_ _T_h_o_m__a_s_ T__. _C_u__ll_e_n_ ____ ______ __ HON. THOMAS T. CULLEN UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE