Monica S. Ramsey, et al. v. Independent Specialty Insurance Company, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana denied former counsel’s motion to intervene in a settled insurance dispute. The court held that the proposed intervenors, two limited liability law firms seeking attorney fees, failed to establish subject-matter jurisdiction because they did not allege the citizenship of their members or otherwise demonstrate complete diversity and the amount-in-controversy requirement. The motion was denied without oral argument.

Holdings

1. A party seeking to intervene as a plaintiff in a civil action founded solely on diversity jurisdiction must establish the requirements of 28 U.S.C. § 1332, including complete diversity and the amount-in-controversy requirement, when supplemental jurisdiction under § 1367(b) would otherwise be inconsistent with § 1332.
2. A limited liability company seeking to intervene must specifically allege the citizenship of every one of its members, tracing citizenship through organizational layers as necessary; failure to do so prevents the court from determining whether complete diversity exists.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the former counsel could intervene as plaintiffs under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 24(a) after the underlying dispute had been resolved.
2. Whether the court had subject-matter jurisdiction over the proposed intervention when the underlying action was based solely on diversity jurisdiction and the proposed intervenors failed to allege the citizenship of each member of their limited liability companies.
3. Whether supplemental jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1367 could support the proposed intervention despite the limitations in § 1367(b) concerning nondiverse persons seeking to intervene as plaintiffs in a diversity action.

Disposition

other