Langston v. IRCA Group USA LLC, 4:25-cv-01339

Plaintiff Donna Langston sued IRCA Group USA LLC in Missouri state court; defendant removed to federal court asserting diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a).
Defendant’s original notice misidentified its entity form (called itself a Delaware corporation) and alleged its principal place of business in Delaware.
The Court ordered an amended notice because an LLC’s citizenship is that of its members and Defendant failed to establish its own citizenship.
In the amended notice, IRCA acknowledged it is an LLC and asserted its sole member is IRCA Group Luxembourg Midco 4 S.a.r.l., described as a Luxembourg entity with its principal place of business in Luxembourg.
Defendant did not analyze whether the S.a.r.l. should be treated as a corporation for § 1332 purposes or, alternatively, identify the S.a.r.l.’s members and their citizenships.
The Court concluded the amended notice failed to carry Defendant’s burden to establish subject-matter jurisdiction and ordered remand to state court.

Issue	Langston's Argument	IRCA's Argument	Held
Whether federal diversity jurisdiction exists	Plaintiff disputes diversity; asserts jurisdiction not established	Defendant claims diversity because IRCA’s sole member is a Luxembourg S.a.r.l. and is foreign	Court held Defendant failed to establish diversity; remand required
How to treat a foreign S.a.r.l. for citizenship	N/A (challenge focuses on Defendant’s failure to show equivalence to a corporation)	S.a.r.l. is a Luxembourg entity; Defendant implied it is a corporation-equivalent for jurisdictional purposes	Court held Defendant did not show S.a.r.l. is equivalent to a corporation; absent that, Defendant must identify the S.a.r.l.’s members and their citizenships; it did not

GMAC Commercial Credit LLC v. Dillard Department Stores, Inc., 357 F.3d 827 (8th Cir.) (LLC citizenship is that of its members)
Jet Midwest International Co. v. Jet Midwest Group, 932 F.3d 1102 (8th Cir.) (foreign entity treated as corporation only if equivalent in all legally material respects)
Lear Corp. v. Johnson Electric Holdings Ltd., 353 F.3d 580 (7th Cir.) (standard for treating foreign entity as corporation for diversity)
Sloss Industries Corp. v. Eurisol, 488 F.3d 922 (11th Cir.) (foreign S.a.r.l. analogous to an American LLC)
Akno 1010 Market Street St. Louis Mo. LLC v. Pourtaghi, 43 F.4th 624 (6th Cir.) (an LLC has the citizenship of its members and sub-members)
Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America, 511 U.S. 375 (1994) (party asserting federal jurisdiction bears the burden to establish it)
Gu v. INVISTA S.a.r.l., [citation="682 F. App'x 316"] (5th Cir.) (discussing S.a.r.l. nomenclature and foreign entity form)