Judge Lawrence Kahn
Plaintiff TNHYIF’s verified state court complaint pleaded claims for foreclosure on a mortgage note. Certain individuals (the partners) sought removal to federal District Court. In addition to basing removal on the court’s diversity jurisdiction, the partners alleged the court held federal question jurisdiction because the United States may, at some point, become a party to the action. By its motion for order to show cause, TNHYIF sought its lawsuit’s remand to state court. District Court remanded suit to state court pursuant to 28 USC §1447(c) after concluding that it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. Noting that the United States was not presently a named party to plaintiff’s verified complaint filed with the state court, District Court observed that speculation that the United States may be brought into the action in the futurewhether as a third-party defendant or otherwisedid not establish a basis for exercising federal question jurisdiction. Despite asserting TNHYIF’s Maryland incorporation, the partners’ failure to allege that TNHYIF’s principal place of business was in a state other than New York was sufficient to destroy complete diversity of citizenship.
