Creagh v. Espiritus LLC and Jay S. Maltby
- Valerie Caproni
- 1:25-cv-05459
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Creagh v. Espiritus LLC, Judge Caproni ordered a fee affidavit to assess the jurisdictional amount while leaving the dismissal motion undecided.
The order directly affects Christopher Creagh, who must submit the fee affidavit, and Espiritus LLC and Jay S. Maltby, whose jurisdictional dismissal motion remains undecided; it also addresses Espiritus LLC’s requirement to appear through counsel.
What happened
In Christopher Creagh v. Espiritus LLC and Jay S. Maltby, Creagh alleged that Espiritus LLC is a limited liability company and Maltby is its sole member. Maltby filed a motion without a lawyer for both defendants, arguing that the amount in dispute was too low for federal jurisdiction.
The court explained that a limited liability company must appear in federal court through a licensed lawyer. It had ordered Espiritus LLC to hire a lawyer or explain why a default judgment should not be entered. A lawyer then appeared for the company.
The court ordered Creagh to file, by December 8, 2025, an affidavit listing the attorneys’ fees accrued when the complaint was filed. Judge Valerie Caproni did not decide the motion to dismiss in this order.
The detailed version
- Creagh v. Espiritus LLC and Jay S. Maltby · No. 1:25-cv-05459
- Valerie Caproni
- Dec. 1, 2025
Background
Christopher Creagh filed an amended complaint alleging that Espiritus LLC is a limited liability company and that Jay S. Maltby is its sole member. Maltby filed, without a lawyer, a motion to dismiss for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction on behalf of both defendants. The motion argued that the amount-in-controversy requirement for federal jurisdiction was not satisfied. Creagh opposed the motion and argued that the requirement was satisfied.
The court stated that a limited liability company may appear in federal court only through a licensed attorney. The court had ordered Espiritus LLC either to retain counsel or to show why a default judgment should not be entered against it. Counsel subsequently appeared for Espiritus LLC.
Order
The court ordered Creagh to file, no later than December 8, 2025, an affidavit stating the amount of attorneys’ fees accrued as of July 1, 2025, when the complaint was filed. The affidavit, or an exhibit to it, must identify each relevant billing entry’s date, timekeeper, task description, time spent, hourly rate, and total fee. The order did not grant or deny the motion to dismiss and did not otherwise decide whether the amount-in-controversy requirement was satisfied.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.