Jungil Lee v. ANC Car Rental Corp.

MEMORANDUM **

After Jin Ah Lee, a Korean national, was killed in a car accident in Arizona, her estate representative, Jungil Lee, and Korean national parents, Sang-Chul Lee and Dukson Lee, brought suit in federal court alleging various state law tort claims against three defendants: Hong-Jun Jeon, a Korean national; Alamo/National Rental Car, a Florida corporation; and General Motors, which is incorporated in Delaware and has its primary place of business in Michigan. The district court dismissed the suit for lack of subject matter jurisdiction under the alienage diversity provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (a). Plaintiffs-Appellants appeal from this final order. We review the district court’s subject matter jurisdiction determination de novo, see Lively v. Wild Oats Markets, Inc., 456 F.3d 933, 938 (9th Cir.2006), and we affirm.

I. Diversity Jurisdiction Under § 1332(a)

We have interpreted § 1332(a)(2) to require complete diversity of parties. That is, aliens may not be on both sides of the litigation. Faysound Ltd. v. United Coconut Chem., Inc., 878 F.2d 290, 294 (9th Cir.1989); Craig v. Atlantic Richfield Co., 19 F.3d 472, 476 (9th Cir.1994) (§ 1332(a)(2) does not confer…