Jon Lakatos v. RLI Corp.

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

JON LAKATOS, Case No. 2:24-cv-03678-SB-MRW

Plaintiff,

v. ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE RE

FRAUDULENT JOINDER

RLI CORP. et al.,

Defendants.

Plaintiff Jon Lakatos filed this suit in the Ventura County Superior Court on March 21, 2024, against Defendants RLI Corp. and Mercury Insurance Company. Dkt. No. 1-2. Defendant RLI removed the case on May 3, asserting that this court has diversity jurisdiction because RLI and Lakatos are completely diverse. Dkt. No. 1 ¶ 6. Mercury is a California citizen (as is Lakatos), but RLI contends that the Court should disregard Mercury’s citizenship because Mercury has been fraudulently joined. Id. ¶¶ 10–11 (citing Grancare, LLC v. Thrower, 889 F.3d 543, 548 (9th Cir. 2018); Ritchey v. Upjohn Drug Co., 139 F.3d 1313, 1318 (9th Cir. 1998); Hunter v. Philip Morris USA, 582 F.3d 1039, 1044 (9th Cir. 2009)). RLI argues that the complaint does not set forth the existence of an actual controversy between Lakatos and Mercury and that it does not entitle him to any relief from Mercury. The Court has a duty to assess whether federal subject-matter…