Jonathan A. Zandi v. Houda Bahri

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JONATHAN A. ZANDI, Case No. 2:24-cv-00624-SB-BFM

Plaintiff,

v.

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE

HOUDA BAHRI et al., SUBJECT MATTER

JURISDICTION

Defendants.

Plaintiff Jonathan A. Zandi brings this fraud case against Defendants Houda Bahri, Islamic Center of Washington D.C., and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Dkt. No. 1. Although Plaintiff does not address this Court’s subject-matter jurisdiction in the complaint, he appears to bring this case on diversity grounds. See Dkt. No. 1-1 at 1.

Federal courts have subject-matter jurisdiction only over matters authorized by the U.S. Constitution and Congress. See e.g., Kokkonen v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 511 U.S. 375, 377 (1994). This Court has a duty to assess whether federal subject-matter jurisdiction exists and may consider the issue sua sponte at any stage of the proceedings. See Allstate Ins. Co. v. Hughes, 358 F.3d 1089, 1093 (9th Cir. 2004); see also Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co., 526 U.S. 574, 583 (1999) (recognizing that “Article III generally requires a federal court to satisfy itself of its jurisdiction over the subject…