FLORIDA: Federal Courts May Not Have Jurisdiction In Pulse Victims’ Lawsuit Against Killer’s Employer

Orlando’s ABC affiliate reports:

A lawsuit filed by the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre and their families against the gunman’s wife and employer is in jeopardy of being dismissed in federal court. Federal Judge Kenneth A. Marra filed the order questioning if the federal court system had jurisdiction in the case, determining that as presented it did not. The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in federal court in South Florida on behalf of more than four dozen of the survivors and family members of those killed at Pulse nightclub last June.

Personal injury attorney Antonio Romanucci said Omar Mateen’s employer at the time of the shooting, security company G4S, knew Mateen was mentally unstable yet allowed him to carry a gun in his job as a security guard. Mateen had a firearm license through his job. Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, is currently in California jail awaiting trial.

In his order, Marra argued that the concept of “complete diversity” must exist if a federal court is able to try this type of civil lawsuit. Because many of the plaintiffs and two of the defendants are citizens of, or operate in, Florida, that requirement has not been met. “As such, the case must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction,” Marra said.

The plaintiffs have ten days to file an amended complaint.