Belleville Catering Co. v. Champaign Market Place, LLC
United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
350 F.3d 691 (7th Cir. 2003)
Belleville Catering Co. (plaintiff) sued Champaign Market Place, LLC (defendant) in federal court, invoking diversity jurisdiction and alleging Champaign was a citizen of Delaware and Illinois because it was organized under Delaware law and had its principal place of business in Illinois, treating the LLC like a corporation for jurisdictional purposes. Champaign's individual members never disclosed their own states of citizenship. The district court accepted Belleville's allegations and proceeded to rule in Champaign's favor on the merits; Belleville appealed.
Whether a limited liability company's citizenship for purposes of federal diversity jurisdiction is determined the same way as a corporation's, by its state of organization and principal place of business.