Dismissing a Class Action Complaint – The Effect of Twombly and Iqbal

Zachary Andrew McEntyre
Image: kslaw.com

Recently named by the Daily Report as one of Atlanta’s top 40 under 40 lawyers On The Rise, Zachary Andrew McEntyre is a partner at King & Spalding LLP. Focused on commercial litigation, Zachary Andrew McEntyre drafts briefs, pleadings, and motions to dismiss class allegations.

For a long time, federal courts applied a simple standard for admitting class action complaints. Rule 8 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure only required complaints to include statements establishing: the court’s jurisdiction, a claim warranting relief, and the relief sought. This made drafting class action complaints relatively easy. It also meant a motion by the defendant to dismiss a complaint under Rule 12 would fail unless it was evident that the plaintiff would not be able to prove his claim.

However, decisions by the US Supreme Court in Bell Atlantic Corp V. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal raised the standard. In the two cases, the Supreme Court required complaints to allege more than just conclusions and formulaic expressions, contain allegations of fact beyond mere speculation, and plausibly allege the defendant’s liability. Twombly and Iqbal essentially represented a shift to a higher standard for admitting class action complaints.

Defense lawyers can now invoke Twombly and Iqbal in their motions to dismiss class action complaints that contain mere speculations, and do not link specific factual allegations with the applicable law to impute the defendant’s liability.