Marlin Jones v. Jonathan Blum

United States Court of Appeals FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT ___________ No. 10-1756 ___________ Marlin E. Jones, * * Appellant, * Appeal from the United States * District Court for the v. * District of Nebraska. * Jonathan J. Blum, * [UNPUBLISHED] * Appellee. * ___________ Submitted: August 6, 2010 Filed: September 3, 2010 ___________ Before BYE, BOWMAN, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges. ___________ PER CURIAM. Marlin E. Jones appeals the district court’s1 order dismissing his defamation action without prejudice for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Upon de novo review, see Advance Am. Servicing of Ark., Inc. v. McGinnis, 526 F.3d 1170, 1173 (8th Cir. 2008), we agree with the district court that dismissal was proper because Jones failed to satisfy his burden of proving that the amount in controversy exceeded $75,000, after the court challenged the validity of the amount alleged, see 28 U.S.C. § 1332(a)(1); Missouri ex rel. Pemiscot County v. W. Sur. Co., 51 F.3d 170, 173 (8th 1 The Honorable Laurie Smith Camp, United States District Judge for the District of Nebraska. Cir. 1995) (if opposing party or court questions whether alleged amount in controversy is legitimate, then party invoking federal diversity jurisdiction bears burden of establishing requisite amount by preponderance of evidence). Accordingly, we affirm. See 8th Cir. R. 47B. ______________________________ -2-