Diversity and Trustees

Cook v. Marshall addressed the issue of citizenship of a trust for jurisdictional purposes. The Fifth Circuit noted that “traditional trusts . . . were not considered distinct legal entities at common law, and hence cannot sue or be sued in their own name.”  Under that rule, only the citizenship of the trustee parties matters for diversity purposes.  Applied here, that rule means that complete diversity existed because the trustee parties, Cook and Marshall, were citizens of different states—Louisiana and Texas, respectively. The Court referenced the Seventh Circuit’s approach in the 2018 case of Doermer v. Oxford Fin. Group, which held that “when a trustee of a traditional trust ‘files a lawsuit or is sued in her own name, her citizenship is all that matters for diversity purposes.'” No. 24-30222, Jan. 23, 2025