LLC’s Members, and Not Managers, Relevant for Purposes of Diversity Jurisdiction

LLC’s Members, and Not Managers, Relevant for Purposes of Diversity Jurisdiction

In a recent decision from Florida, while assessing conflicting factual statements, it was made clear that the citizenship of the managers of an LLC, as contrasted with that of its members, is not relevant for purposes of determining the LLC’s citizenship for purposes of diversity jurisdiction. Kleiman v. Wright, Case No. 18-CV-80176-Bloom/Reinhart, 2019 WL 3841931 (S. D. Fla. Aug. 15, 2019).

At this juncture of the litigation, there were numerous facially conflicting statements by Wright as the ownership of an LLC involved in this dispute, namely W&K Info Defense Research, LLC. Relevant for this discussion, there was the question as to whether an individual, a citizen of Vietnam whose citizenship in the LLC would have destroy diversity jurisdiction, was in fact a member. Finding the evidence to be that this individual, if anything, was a manager, and not a member, of the LLC, the court found that diversity could not on that basis be determined. Rather:

For purposes of diversity jurisdiction, it is the citizenship of the LLC’s members, not its managers, that is relevant. Silver Crown Investments, LLC v. Team Real Estate MGMT LLC, 349 F.Supp. 3d 1316, 1324 (S.D. Fla. 2018) (Martinez J.) (citing Rolling Greens MHP, L.P.D. Comcast SCH Holdings, L.L.C., 374. F.3d 1020, 1022 (11th Cir. 2004).

2019 WL 3841931, *4.