This requirement cannot be satisfied by fanciful damages claims. See,Nieves v. Stamford Hospital, 345 F. Supp. 1014, 1016-17 (D.Conn. 1972). If the $75,000 threshold is to mean anything, courts must realistically evaluate the extent of damages and the likelihood of equitable relief. "It is incumbent upon us independently to examine the jurisdictional underpinnings of an action whether or not any question of subject matter jurisdiction is raised in the district court. . . ." Givens v. W. T. Grant Co., 457 F.2d 612, 613 n. 2 (2d Cir. 1972).

The Court requested the parties to focus their attention on the question of federal jurisdiction in recognition of its well established duty to inquire on its own motion into the adequacy of jurisdictional allegations. Baer v. United Services Automobile Assn., 503 F.2d 393, 396 (2d Cir. 1974); Givens v. W. T. Grant Co., 457 F.2d 612, 613, n. 2 (2d Cir. 1972); Nieves v. Stamford Hospital, 345 F. Supp. 1014, 1016 (D.Conn. 1972). "The trial court is not bound by the pleadings of the parties, but may, of its own motion, if led to believe that its jurisdiction is not properly invoked, `inquire into the facts as they really exist.'"McNutt v. General Motors Corp., 298 U.S. 178, 184, 56 S.Ct. 780, 783, 80 L.Ed. 1135 (1936).