No diversity about diversity over Diversity
October 21, 2020The dispute in Smith v. Toyota Motor Corp., No 19-60938 (Oct. 20, 2020), was whether there was diversity jurisdiction over two business entities with diverse business activities, one of which was named . . . Diversity Vuteq LLC. Despite the abundant diversity in the case, the Fifth Circuit reminded that there is not a diversity of opinion about how to properly plead citizenship:
- “To adequately allege the citizenship of Toyota, a corporation, Smith needed to ‘set out the principal place of business of the corporation as well as the stat e of its incorporation.'” (citations omitted);
- “To adequately allege the citizenship of Diversity, a limited liability corporation, Smith needed to ‘specifically allege the citizenship of every member of every LLC or partnership involved in a litigation.'”