Jane Doe v. Schwerzler
United States District Court for the District of New Jersey
2008 WL 1781986 (D.N.J. 2008)
Doe (plaintiff) sued Schwerzler, her former swim coach, and several others (defendants), all New Jersey citizens, alleging Schwerzler began an improper sexual relationship with her starting when she was 13. Although Doe grew up in New Jersey and her parents still lived there, she was attending college in Kentucky when she filed suit, and by that date had registered to vote there, obtained a Kentucky driver's license, rented property and paid utilities there, opened a Kentucky bank account, paid Kentucky state taxes, and expressed intent (through her own and others' statements) to remain in Kentucky. The non-Schwerzler defendants moved to dismiss for lack of diversity jurisdiction, arguing Doe remained a New Jersey domiciliary.
Whether a new domicile is established, for diversity-of-citizenship purposes, if the party asserting diversity proves by a preponderance of the evidence that she moved to the new domicile with no intention of returning to the previous one.