Judge Shira Scheindlin
Satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space France is a French company. Private equity firm Thermo Funding Co., organized as a Colorado limited liability company, is held by an inter vivos trust—the Monroe Revocable Trust—established by Colorado citizen Monroe under Colorado law in 1997. Monroe’s sister Harris—named a beneficiary in the trust agreement—is a citizen of the United States, United Kingdom and Australia domiciled in Australia. In its contract breach action arising from Thermo’s controlling interest in Globestar Inc.—which had contracted with Thales to buy a fleet of satellites—Thales claimed diversity of citizenship because the lawsuit was between it as a citizen of a foreign state and Thermo as a citizen of a state. Thermo claimed itself a citizen of a foreign state, so that diversity of citizenship was lacking. The court denied Thermo dismissal under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(1). Because the Monroe Revocable Trust was a traditional trust established for estate-planning purposes rather than a business trust, its sole trustee was Monroe, a citizen of Colorado. Thus Thermo is a Colorado citizen and complete diversity of citizenship exists.
