Bio Energy (Washington) LLC v. King County

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE BIO ENERGY (WASHINGTON), LLC, CASE NO. 2:23-cv-00542-LK Plaintiff, ORDER TO FILE AN AMENDED 12 v. CORPORATE DISCLOSURE STATEMENT 13 KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON, 14 Defendant.

16 This matter comes before the Court sua sponte. Plaintiff Bio Energy (Washington), LLC’s corporate disclosure statement fails to comply with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 and Local Civil Rule 7.1. See Dkt. No. 1 at 2; Dkt. No. 3.

19 Bio Energy is a Limited Liability Company, which means it “is a citizen of every state of which its owners/members are citizens” for diversity purposes. Johnson v. Columbia Properties Anchorage, LP, 437 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2006). Bio Energy identifies Ingenco Holdings LLC as its sole owner, and avers that “[t]he members of Ingenco Holdings LLC are all residents of either Virginia or Texas.” Dkt. No. 1 at 2; see also Dkt. No. 3 at 1. Although this is sufficient to establish diversity under 28 U.S.C. § 1332, it is insufficient to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1(a)(2)(A) or Local Civil Rule 7.1. Federal Rule 7.1 requires parties in a diversity action to “name—and identify the citizenship of—every individual or entity whose citizenship is attributed to that party.” Such information is crucial not only to “facilitate an early and accurate determination of jurisdiction,” but also to “support properly informed disqualification decisions in situations that call for automatic disqualification under Canon 3C(1)(c).” Fed. R. Civ. P. 7.1 Advisory Committee notes to 2002 and 2022 amendments. Similarly, Local Rule 7.1 requires an LLC to specifically identify each member, along with the member’s state of citizenship. LCR 7.1(a)(1), (b).

9 Bio Energy is accordingly ORDERED to file a compliant amended corporate disclosure statement no later than April 28, 2023. Failure to do so may result in sanctions.

11 Dated this 14th day of April, 2023.

12 A 13 Lauren King United States District Judge