American Motorists Insurance Co., and St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Cross-Appellees v. American Employers' Insurance Company, Cross-AppellantAmerican Motorists Insurance Co., and St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Co., Cross-Appellees v. American Employers' Insurance Company, Cross-Appellant
The parties in this action, three insurance companies, each contributed funds in settlement of a tort action brought against their common insured. Two of the companies then brought this declaratory judgment action against the third to determine the companies’ respective liabilities under the settlement agreement. The district court entered a judgment from which the plaintiffs appeal.
This court
sua sponte
raises a question concerning its subject matter jurisdiction. The alleged jurisdictional basis for this action is diversity of citizenship. When jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship,
In this case the plaintiffs’ complaint simply alleged that all three parties were “foreign corporations” which were “licensed to do business and doing business in Louisiana.” It failed, however, to specify the citizenship of the parties.
1
Because of this defect in the pleadings, we cannot tell if in fact the parties are diverse. Accordingly, we remand the case to the district court for it to determine if there is jurisdiction. It can do this by giving the plaintiffs an opportunity to amend their defective pleadings.
See
REMANDED.
Notes
. For purposes of determining diversity of citizenship a corporation is deemed “a citizen of any State by which it has been incorporated and of the State where it has its principal place of business . . . .”