State Farm Fire and Casualty Company v. Home Depot Product Authority LLC

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 10 STATE FARM FIRE AND CASE NO. C21-0323JLR CASUALTY COMPANY, 11 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE Plaintiff, 12 v. HOME DEPOT PRODUCT AUTHORITY, LLC, et al., 15 Defendants.

16 Before the court is Defendants Home Depot Product Authority, LLC and The Home Depot U.S.C., Inc.’s (collectively, “Defendants”) notice of removal. (Not. of Removal (Dkt. # 1).) Having reviewed the complaint (Compl. (Dkt. # 1-1)) and the notice of removal, the court finds that Defendants have failed to allege an adequate basis for subject matter jurisdiction. The court therefore ORDERS Defendants to show cause by April 6, 2021, why this matter should not be remanded to state court for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

1 Defendants assert that the court’s jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332. (Not. of Removal ¶ 3.) The party invoking jurisdiction must allege facts that establish the court’s subject matter jurisdiction. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992). Federal diversity jurisdiction requires complete diversity of citizenship between the parties, where each of the plaintiffs is a citizen of a different state than each of the defendants. See Morris v. Princess Cruises, Inc., 236 F.3d 7 1061, 1067 (9th Cir. 2001). A limited liability company has the citizenships of all its members. See Johnson v. Columbia Props. Anchorage, LP, 437 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2006). While Defendants state that Home Depot Product Authority LLC’s “principal place of business is in Georgia[,] and it is incorporated in Delaware” (Shewbert Decl.

11 (Dkt. # 2) ¶ 5, Ex. 2), they make no representation as to the citizenships of Home Depot Product Authority, LLC’s members (see id.; Not. of Removal).

13 Accordingly, the court ORDERS Defendants to show cause why this case should not be remanded for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. If Defendants fail to provide the court with the information described above by April 6, 2021, the court will remand this matter to state court.

17 Dated this 23rd day of March, 2021.

A 20 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge