MATHESON, Circuit Judge.
Celeste C. Grynberg—individually and as trustee on behalf of the Rachel Susan Trust, Stephen Mark Trust, and Miriam Zela Trust—and Jack J. Grynberg petitioned the federal district court to vacate an arbitration award that had been entered against them and in favor of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P. ("KMEP") and Kinder Morgan CO2 Company, L.P. ("KMCO2," and together with KMEP, "Kinder Morgan entities").
The Grynbergs invoked the court's diversity jurisdiction. When they filed the action, the Grynbergs were citizens of Colorado, KMEP was a Delaware master limited partnership ("MLP"), and KMCO2 was a Texas limited partnership with one partner, KMEP.
The Grynbergs appeal, arguing the district court improperly applied Carden. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm.
This case addresses diversity jurisdiction for MLPs. MLPs are limited
On July 1, 2014, the Grynbergs petitioned the United States District Court for the District of Colorado to vacate an arbitration award that had been entered against them and in favor of the Kinder Morgan entities. The petition alleged the district court had diversity jurisdiction because the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000 and the parties were completely diverse. See 28 U.S.C. § 1332. The petition alleged that the Grynbergs were citizens of Colorado, that KMEP was a Delaware limited partnership
On July 2, 2014, the district court issued an Order to Show Cause, which said the Grynbergs' petition did not adequately allege diversity jurisdiction because it did not properly identify the citizenship of the two limited partnerships, KMEP and KMCO2, as of the filing date. The court explained that under Carden, 494 U.S. at 195, 110 S.Ct. 1015, the citizenship of limited partnerships was the citizenship of all its unitholders. The court ordered the Grynbergs to identify all of KMEP's unitholders and KMCO2's members.
The Grynbergs responded, explaining that KMEP was a publicly traded Delaware MLP and that KMCO2 was a Texas limited partnership wholly owned by KMEP. The Kinder Morgan entities responded and explained that KMEP had unitholders who were citizens of Colorado. The Grynbergs argued that, because KMEP was an MLP and not a limited partnership, Carden was inapplicable. Instead, the Grynbergs argued, KMEP's citizenship was its principal place of business and state of formation.
The district court concluded Carden controlled and the Grynbergs had failed to establish complete diversity. It therefore
The Grynbergs appeal the district court's decision concluding it lacked diversity jurisdiction. Deciding an issue of first impression, we hold the citizenship of an MLP consists of its unitholders' citizenship and therefore affirm.
"We review the district court's order dismissing the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction de novo." Lindstrom v. United States, 510 F.3d 1191, 1193 (10th Cir.2007).
The Constitution states, "The judicial Power shall extend to . . . Controversies. . . between Citizens of different States." U.S. Const. art. III, § 2, cl. 1. Because "[t]he judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in . . . such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish," id. art. III, § 1, Congress determines the jurisdiction of the federal district courts. Sheldon v. Sill, 49 U.S. (8 How.) 441, 12 L.Ed. 1147 (1850). "Congress first authorized the federal courts to exercise diversity jurisdiction in the Judiciary Act of 1789. . . ." Carden, 494 U.S. at 187, 110 S.Ct. 1015. Under the current diversity statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1332, district courts have diversity jurisdiction over "all civil actions where the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $75,000 . . . and is between . . . citizens of different States."
Diversity jurisdiction requires complete diversity—no plaintiff may be a citizen of the same state as any defendant. See, e.g., Strawbridge v. Curtiss, 7 U.S. (3 Cranch) 267, 2 L.Ed. 435 (1806); Ravenswood Inv. Co., L.P. v. Avalon Corr. Servs., 651 F.3d 1219, 1223 (10th Cir.2011). "[F]or purposes of determining the existence of diversity jurisdiction, the citizenship of the parties is to be determined with reference to the facts as they existed at the time of filing." Grupo Dataflux v. Atlas Glob. Grp., L.P., 541 U.S. 567, 569-70, 124 S.Ct. 1920, 158 L.Ed.2d 866 (2004).
Three reasons support our conclusion that an MLP's citizenship consists of its unitholders' citizenship. First, the long-standing rule guiding the jurisdictional citizenship of unincorporated entities, most recently stated in Carden, applies to MLPs. Second, the narrow exception to this rule does not apply. Third, the Grynbergs' policy arguments are appropriately addressed to Congress, not the courts.
In general, for jurisdictional citizenship, there are two types of business organizations: corporations and unincorporated associations. For diversity, a corporation is a citizen of its state of incorporation and the state where its principal place of business is located. 28 U.S.C. § 1332(c)(1); see also Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. 77, 85, 88, 130 S.Ct. 1181, 175 L.Ed.2d 1029 (2010) (citing Louisville, Cincinnati, & Charleston R.R. Co. v. Letson, 43 U.S. (2 How.) 497, 558, 11 L.Ed. 353 (1844)). The Supreme Court has "firmly resisted extending that treatment to other entities." Carden, 494 U.S. at 189, 110 S.Ct. 1015.
Instead, beginning with Chapman v. Barney, 129 U.S. 677, 9 S.Ct. 426, 32 L.Ed. 800 (1889), the Supreme Court has held an unincorporated entity's citizenship is typically determined by its members' citizenship
The Grynbergs argue the district court misapplied the Chapman rule because Carden only applied the rule to limited partnerships, and any reference in that decision to other non-corporate business entities was merely dicta. We disagree. Carden was the result of case authority spanning a century of Supreme Court decisions uniformly applying the Chapman rule and holding that various forms of unincorporated associations are citizens of their members' states of citizenship. See, e.g., Chapman, 129 U.S. at 681-82, 9 S.Ct. 426; Great S. Fire Proof Hotel, 177 U.S. at 450, 454, 20 S.Ct. 690; Bouligny, 382 U.S. at 147, 86 S.Ct. 272; Carden, 494 U.S. at 195-96, 110 S.Ct. 1015. The rule applies to MLPs because they are unincorporated associations (1) formed under state law as limited partnerships or limited liability companies and (2) classified as partnerships for federal income tax purposes. See 26 U.S.C. § 7704(a); Hite Hedge LP v. El Paso Corp., No. 7117VCG, 2012 WL 4788658, at *1 (Del.Ch. Oct. 9, 2012) (unpublished).
The Supreme Court recognized one exception to the Chapman rule in Puerto Rico v. Russell & Co., 288 U.S. 476, 481-82,
First, in cases since Russell, the Supreme Court has declined to extend the exception to any other form of entity and has said it likely applies only to the sociedad en comandita. Carden, 494 U.S. at 190, 110 S.Ct. 1015; Bouligny, 382 U.S. at 151, 86 S.Ct. 272. In Bouligny, the Court explained that Russell presented a distinctive problem of "fitting an exotic creation of the civil law . . . into a federal scheme that knew it not." 382 U.S. at 151, 86 S.Ct. 272. In Carden, the Court said that after the Bouligny Court declined to extend the exception to labor unions, "[t]here could be no doubt . . . that at least common-law entities (and likely all entities beyond the Puerto Rican sociedad en comandita) would be treated for purposes of the diversity statute" as partnerships, whose citizenship is determined according to each member's citizenship. 494 U.S. at 190, 110 S.Ct. 1015. And in Russell itself, the Court said, "The tradition of the common law is to treat as legal persons only incorporated groups and to assimilate all others to partnerships." 288 U.S. at 480, 53 S.Ct. 447.
Moreover, the Carden Court noted that although Russell might be read to "reflect the Supreme Court's willingness to look beyond the incorporated/unincorporated dichotomy and to study the [entity's] internal organization, state law requirements, management structure, and capacity or lack thereof to act and/or sue, to determine diversity of citizenship," the Court had specifically rejected that approach in decisions since Russell. 494 U.S. at 190, 110 S.Ct. 1015 (alteration omitted) (citing Bouligny, 382 U.S. at 151, 86 S.Ct. 272).
Second, even if we consider the MLP's characteristics, they do not support treating an MLP like a corporation for diversity jurisdiction. MLPs and corporations are publicly traded, centrally managed, and have freely transferable interests. But the similarities end there. MLPs are formed as unincorporated entities under state law, and Carden reaffirmed the dichotomy between corporations and unincorporated entities.
The Grynbergs do not attempt to compare the management structures of an MLP to those of a sociedad en comandita or a corporation, perhaps because MLP governance differs from corporate governance. See John Goodgame, Master Limited Partnership Governance, 60 Bus. L. 471, 485 (2005). For example, because MLPs are creatures of state limited partnership law, the partnership agreement can modify the fiduciary duties owed by the MLP's partners. Id. at 485-87. But corporate law disallows modifying or restricting
The Grynbergs urge us not to apply Carden to MLPs because doing so would preclude diversity jurisdiction over MLPs.
The Grynbergs of Colorado concede diversity jurisdiction is lacking in this case if we determine the Chapman rule applies. It does. They acknowledge that when they filed this action, at least one KMEP unitholder was a Colorado citizen. Accordingly, the district court properly dismissed this case for lack of jurisdiction. We affirm.
We have reviewed the Kinder Morgan entities' response and these materials. We find the Kinder Morgan entities have established good cause for protecting those pages identified in their response as containing confidential and proprietary information and grant their motion as to those documents.