Rodriguez-Diaz v. Sierra-Martinez

853 F.2d 1027 (1988)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P, while operating a motorcycle in Puerto Rico, was in a collision with an automobile driven by D. P was immediately taken to the Hospital Regional de Caguas, from where he was transferred to the Centro Medico for emergency treatment. P alleges that the treatment he received at the Centro Medico caused him to suffer a massive bone infection and aggravation of a leg injury. From Centro Medico P was transferred to Hospital General San Carlos where he alleges he also received improper treatment. P was transferred to a hospital in New York City. He alleges he was living in New York at the time he brought this action in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico. P alleges in his complaint that he intends to remain in New York and make it his permanent home and that he is now domiciled there. P had turned 18 by the time he brought this action, the age of majority in New York. P's parents are still residents and domiciliaries of Puerto Rico, where the age of majority is 21. Ds are all residents and domiciliaries of Puerto Rico. Ds moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of diversity jurisdiction. The court held that P is a minor, and, therefore, his domicile is that of his parents. The court dismissed the complaint for lack of diversity. The district court observed that, for purposes of diversity jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1), state citizenship and domicile are equivalents. The court also noted that in a diversity case the capacity \of a person to sue or be sued is determined by the law of the state of the litigant's domicile. The court held that the citizenship of a minor was the citizenship of his parents and that the latter's domicile determined whether the minor had become emancipated so that he could establish a domicile of choice elsewhere. P appealed.