JACKSONVILLE — The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida Jacksonville Division has ruled that an Arizona RV dealer has failed to show if the court has diversity jurisdiction in a lawsuit filed by a Green Cove Springs RV repair shop over a restrictive covenant dispute.
According to the June 12 court filing, the case came before the court sua sponte to review its subject matter jurisdiction in a lawsuit involving plaintiff RVROOF.COM and defendant Arizona RV Specialists LLC, doing business as APR RV.
The case involves RVROOF.COM alleging a breach of a restrictive covenant with APR RV. At question for the court is RVROOF.COM's argument that since both parties in the case are based out of Florida and Arizona, there is a "diversity of citizenship." According to the court filing, RVROOF.COM claims it is a Florida corporation while APR RV is a company based in Arizona.
The court found that it is "unable to determine APR RV's citizenship" since it is registered as an LLC but claims to be a corporation. The court also examined RVROOF.COM's claims that it suffered $15,000 in damage due to APR RV's alleged restrictive covenant violation.
U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard concluded that in addition to the citizenship question in the case, APR RV also "failed to present a 'plausible allegation' of the amount in controversy" in the case and that it did not give the court specific facts to determine if the damages might "exceed the jurisdictional threshold."
Therefore, Morales Howard allowed APR RV until the end of the month to file an amended notice of removal showing the court has jurisdiction in the lawsuit.