Gradillas Court Reporters, Inc v. Cherry Bekaert LLP, No. 19-1098 (4th Cir. 2020)

Annotate this Case

Download PDF

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 19-1098 GRADILLAS COURT REPORTERS, INC., Plaintiff - Appellant, v. CHERRY BEKAERT, LLP, Defendant - Appellee, and DOES 1 THROUGH 50; SARA CRABTREE, Defendants. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, at Norfolk. Rebecca Beach Smith, Senior District Judge. (2:17-cv-00597-RBS-RJK) Submitted: March 26, 2020 Decided: March 31, 2020 Before NIEMEYER, MOTZ, and THACKER, Circuit Judges. Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion. Don Howarth, Suzelle Moss Smith, HOWARTH & SMITH, Los Angeles, California, for Appellant. Kevin M. Murphy, J. Peter Glaws, IV, CARR MALONEY P.C., Washington, D.C., for Appellee. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. 2 PER CURIAM: Gradillas Court Reporters, Inc., appeals the district court’s order accepting the recommendation of the magistrate judge and granting summary judgment in favor of Cherry Bekaert, LLP on Gradillas’ claims of breach of contract and professional negligence. We ordered supplemental briefing on the issue of whether complete diversity existed between the parties such that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1332 (2018), and this briefing has now been completed. Pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1653 (2018), jurisdictional pleading defects may be cured in the district court or on appeal. In accordance with this statute, Cherry Bekaert has moved to supplement the record with affidavits attesting to the citizenship of its partners and to amend the notice of removal to reflect this information. After reviewing the parties’ submissions relative to this motion, we grant Cherry Bekaert’s motion to supplement the record and motion to amend the notice of removal. We have reviewed the record as supplemented and find neither a jurisdictional defect in the record nor any reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm for the reasons stated by the district court. Gradillas Court Reporters, Inc. v. Cherry Bekaert, LLP, No. 2:17-cv00597-RBS-RJK (E.D. Va. Dec. 17, 2018). We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this court and argument would not aid the decisional process. AFFIRMED 3

Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.