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ARTICLE · 05 APRIL 2011

The Evolving Twombly And Iqbal Federal Pleading Standard

Morrison Foerster
Morrison Foerster
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One of the more interesting recent developments in federal procedural law has been the new "plausibility" pleading standard set forth in the twin Supreme Court decisions in Twombly and Iqbal.

United StatesLitigation, Mediation & Arbitration
Jessica Ederer
Jessica Ederer
Don Rushing
Don Rushing
Joanna Simon
Joanna Simon
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One of the more interesting recent developments in federal procedural law has been the new "plausibility" pleading standard set forth in the twin Supreme Court decisions in Twombly and Iqbal. Over the past year, we have been successful in using this new pleading standard to win motions to dismiss in certain cases, and we have also watched the appellate courts reshape the pleading landscape in a few important ways.

APPLICATION OF THE NEW PLEADING STANDARD

After the U.S. Supreme Court announced in Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) the new standard that a plaintiff must plead enough facts to "nudge[] their claims across the line from conceivable to plausible," it subsequently decided Ashcroft v. Iqbal, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1937 (2009), which reaffirmed this new standard and its applicability to all civil cases.

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