Opinion
04 Civ. 3030 (MBM).
June 9, 2004
OPINION AND ORDER
This order confirms decisions taken at a conference on June 9, 2004, as follows:
1. Plaintiff's motion to remand this case to the courts of the State of New York is denied. Defendant Amedeo Hotels Limited Partnership is, its name suggests, a limited partnership, whose citizenship, for diversity purposes, is determined by the citizenship of its partners. It appears from the materials submitted to the court that both the general partner of defendant Amedeo Hotels Limited Partnership, PH Partners, Inc., and its sole limited partner, Palace Holdings, Inc., are limited liability entities created under the laws of the State of Delaware, which observe corporate formalities under the laws of that state and conduct their corporate activities, albeit limited, in that state, or in California, where the sole director and officer of those entities resides. They do not, as plaintiff suggests, conduct their activities in New York. Nothing in Taber Partners v. Merit Builders, Inc., 987 F.2d 57 (1st Cir. 1993), is to the contrary. Indeed, in that case, even though a partnership that ran a hotel in Puerto Rico delegated to its partners the task of managing the hotel, their activities in so doing did not destroy diversity, so long as the entities involved maintained their separate existence and observed corporate formalities.Id. at 62-63. Nothing in this record raises any doubt that the Delaware entities involved here maintain their separate identities in Delaware and conduct their corporate activities, such as they are, in Delaware. No more is required.
2. The temporary restraining order previously issued in this case is continued pending further order of the court.
3. The parties will complete their exchange of documents by July 9, 2004, and will complete fact discovery by September 10, 2004. They will exchange expert reports by October 1, 2004 and will complete discovery as to experts by November 15, 2004. The parties will submit a pretrial order, proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law, and whatever memoranda they believe the court would find useful, by November 24, 2004. Trial will commence on December 6, 2004 at 9:15 a.m.
SO ORDERED.