Diversity
Jurisdiction and the GMBH
A recent decision from Alabama
highlights the problems which arise when a suit in Federal Court on the basis
of diversity jurisdiction involves a foreign (i.e., non-US) business organization. Keshock
v. Metabowerke GMBH, Civ. Act. No. 15-00345-N, 2015 WL 4458858 (S.D. Ala.
July 21, 2015).
A defendant in the lawsuit was a
German GMBH. The defendants, in support
of removal, described the entity as being a “foreign corporation” and then pled
its citizenship accordingly, namely jurisdiction of organization and of the
principal place of business. In not so many words, “not so fast” said the
District Court.
Rather, it was directed that the
defendants demonstrate whether a GMBH should be treated as incorporated or in
the alternative an unincorporated structure.
This direction was provided even as it was acknowledged through citation
to prior cases that this question of taxonomy can be quite difficult.
No comments:
Post a Comment