Brandon Tomlinson and The Tomlinson Law Group v. Maher Asi-Mahmoud

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of New Jersey denied Plaintiffs’ motion for default judgment and dismissed the complaint without prejudice. The court held that Plaintiffs failed to adequately plead diversity jurisdiction, including the citizenship of all plaintiffs and the entity status and citizenship of The Tomlinson Law Group. The court also denied Plaintiffs’ pending motion for alternative service as moot and noted potential deficiencies concerning service of process and damages.

Holdings

1. A court may not enter default judgment unless it first confirms subject matter jurisdiction, and a plaintiff's failure to adequately plead complete diversity requires denial of the default-judgment motion.
2. The complaint was dismissed without prejudice because Plaintiffs failed to plead complete diversity of citizenship.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the court could enter default judgment when the complaint failed to adequately plead complete diversity of citizenship under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).
2. Whether the complaint should be dismissed without prejudice for failure to establish subject matter jurisdiction.
3. Whether Plaintiffs' pending motion for alternative service should be denied as moot after dismissal of the complaint.

Disposition

dismissed