Taheera Sanders and David Miller v. Deontaye Beach and Organics Distribution LLC

Summary

The United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois grants Plaintiffs’ unopposed motion to remand a motor-vehicle collision case removed on diversity-jurisdiction grounds. The court concludes that Plaintiffs stipulated that neither individual claim satisfied the amount-in-controversy requirement and remands the action to the Circuit Court of the 20th Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County, Illinois.

Holdings

1. Federal diversity jurisdiction was not established because, in an action with two plaintiffs, the amount in controversy generally cannot be aggregated across their separate claims, and Plaintiffs stipulated that neither claim independently exceeded $75,000.
2. Plaintiffs' motion to remand was granted, and the action was remanded to the Circuit Court of the 20th Judicial Circuit, St. Clair County, Illinois.

Questions Presented

1. Whether federal diversity jurisdiction existed when the plaintiffs stipulated that neither individual claim satisfied the amount-in-controversy requirement.
2. Whether the removed action should be remanded when the defendants failed to establish federal jurisdiction and did not oppose the motion to remand.

Disposition

remanded