Tull v. United Services Automobile Association

6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 7 AT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON RONNY R. TULL, JR., and LAUREL TULL, CASE NO. 2:23-cv-01880-RAJ Plaintiffs, STIPULATED MOTION AND ORDER 10 v. TO REMAND FOR LACK OF DIVERSITY JURISDICTION UNDER UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a) ASSOCIATION, USAA INSURANCE AGENCY, INC., USAA CASUALTY INSURANCE COMPANY, and USAA GENERAL INDEMNITY COMPANY, 14 Defendants.

15 LR 7-1 CERTIFICATION 16 Counsel for Plaintiffs Ronny R. Tull, Jr. and Laurel Tull (“Plaintiffs”) and for Defendant United Services Automobile Association (“USAA”) have conferred and have stipulated to remand the case to Whatcom County Superior Court due to a lack of federal diversity jurisdiction.

19 STIPULATED MOTION TO REMAND FOR LACK OF DIVERSITY JURISDICTION 20 The parties mutually and respectfully request the Court remand the above-captioned case to Whatcom County Superior Court due to lack of diversity of citizenship between Plaintiffs and USAA.

23 A natural person is deemed a citizen of the state in which he or she is domiciled. (Kanter v. Warner-Labert Co., 265 F.3d 853, 857 (9th Cir. 2001).) At all material times, Plaintiffs are alleged to have resided in Whatcom County in the State of Washington. (Dkt. 1 at ¶¶ 1–2.)

26 Plaintiffs are thus considered citizens of the State of Washington for purposes of determining diversity of citizenship.

1 USAA is an unincorporated reciprocal inter-insurance exchange with members in all 50 states, including Washington. As a matter of law, a reciprocal insurance exchange is an unincorporated association considered to share the citizenship of each of its members for diversity purposes. (Johnson v. Columbia Properties Anchorage, LP, 437 F.3d 894, 899 (9th Cir. 2006); Tuck v. United Services Auto. Ass’n., 859 F.2d 842, 844-845 (10th Cir. 1988).) As USAA has members in Washington (including Plaintiffs), USAA is considered a citizen of the State of Washington for purposes of assessing diversity jurisdiction.

8 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1) allows for original federal jurisdiction over civil matters when the parties are citizens of different states. However, because both Plaintiffs and USAA are citizens of the State of Washington, complete diversity of citizenship between the parties does not exist. The Court therefore lacks original jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ Complaint.

12 As the allegations in Plaintiffs’ Complaint relate to a motor vehicle accident having occurred in Whatcom County, Washington (Dkt. 1 at ¶ 4), the parties respectfully request the Court remand the case to Whatcom County Superior Court in the State of Washington.

15 Dated: February 26, 2024 ELK & ELK, CO., LTD. By /s/ Egan Kilbane 17 Egan Kilbane, Esq. (WSBA No. 47610) [email protected] 18 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 2940 Seattle, WA 98104 19 Attorneys for Plaintiffs RONNY R. TULL, JR. and LAUREL TULL Dated: February 26, 2024 DKM LAW GROUP, LLP 22 By /s/ Brian R. Davis BRIAN R. DAVIS (WSBA No. 53414) 23 [email protected] MELISSA O’CONNOR (WSBA No. 53907) 24 [email protected] KERI L. SALET (WSBA No. 61150) 25 [email protected] 1700 7th Ave, Suite 2100 26 Seattle, WA 98101 Attorneys for Defendant 27 UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION

PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, it is ORDERED that this matter is dismissed without prejudice and remanded for re-filing in Whatcom County Superior Court in the State of Washington.

DATED this 27th day of February, 2024.

A

9 The Honorable Richard A. Jones United States District Judge