In Ashcroft v. Iqbal, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Pakistani Muslim’s complaint of discrimination by high-level officials had to be dismissed unless its allegations were made more specific. In reaching that result, the Court said that to "survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face."
Within days, defendants across the country began moving to dismiss consumers’ rights, workers’ rights, and civil rights lawsuits, arguing that Iqbal dramatically changed the rules for pleading a claim in federal court. In fact, the rule in the U.S. has always been—and continues to be—that a plaintiff’s complaint need only contain a “short and plain statement” of the claim showing an entitlement to relief. Nonetheless, defendants are arguing that almost any allegation is too conclusory to be sufficient, that a wide variety of previously accepted claims are implausible, and that Iqbal eliminated supervisory liability for high-ranking officials.
WHAT PUBLIC JUSTICE IS DOING
Public Justice’s Iqbal Project is designed to stop improper use of the Iqbal decision and preserve plaintiffs’ right to their day in court.
First, we are gathering materials, and we need your help! Please send us complaints that have survived Iqbal motions, successful briefs in response to Iqbal challenges, and published or unpublished decisions interpreting Iqbal or rejecting Iqbal arguments.
We must work together to prevent bad law. All plaintiffs and plaintiffs’ counsel will suffer if cases that could have been better argued lead to poor decisions. Prevent this by sending us your materials.
Second, email us if you would like strategic assistance with your case or would like us to get involved on appeal. We want to help plaintiffs respond to arguments about conclusory allegations, plausibility, and supervisory liability, and to share useful materials as we gather them. For example, we are tracking case law developments and will be happy to provide information on useful recent decisions.