Opinion
Civil Action 22-1370
09-30-2022
INTERSTATE CORPORATION, Plaintiff, v. MSREP PROPERTIES MANAGEMENT, LLC, Defendant.
ORDER OF DISMISSAL
Cathy Bissoon United States District Judge.
This lawsuit will be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, although the dismissal is without prejudice to refiling in state court, as appropriate.
This Court owes a duty to raise sua sponte matters regarding the existence of subject matter jurisdiction. Huber v. Taylor, 532 F.3d 237, 249 (3d Cir. 2008). Plaintiff purports to bring a breach of contract claim, which arises under state law; and a lack of complete diversity of citizenship is apparent from the face of the Complaint. See Doc. 1 at ¶¶ 1 & 2 (alleging that both Plaintiff and Defendant are residents of Pennsylvania).
While the Court ordinarily might order Plaintiff to show cause why the case should not be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, that is inappropriate here. This is so because Plaintiff, a corporation, cannot appear in federal court pro se (i.e., without the benefit of licensed legal counsel). Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC v. Bellmarc Grp. LLC, 2022 WL 3644183, *2 n.2 (3d Cir. Aug. 24, 2022) (citations to binding authority omitted). Thus, the pro se filer of this lawsuit cannot properly respond to a show cause order.
Under the circumstances, this case is DISMISSED, forthwith, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The dismissal is without prejudice to refiling in state court, although the filer is advised that a corporation's retention of licensed legal counsel is a prerequisite to litigation in Pennsylvania state court, as well. See Barrett v. M&B Medical Billing, Inc., 2022 WL 4295437, *3 (Pa. Super. Sept. 19, 2022) (citation to binding legal authority omitted).
IT IS SO ORDERED.