Congress to consider dialing back federal pleading standards

In the past two years, the U.S. Supreme Court has made it harder for plaintiffs to state a claim in federal court.  While FRCP 8 requires that a complaint must contain only a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief," the recent opinions in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal raised the bar, requiring the pleading of facts showing a plausible claim.  As a result, plaintiffs can no longer rely on an assertion of legal conclusions to get a foothold in court.

Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania on Wednesday introduced legislation that would toss out these new developments and return to the pleading standards articulated in the 1957 case of Conley v. Gibson.  See this report on the proposed legislation, and our eariler coverage of the Twombly and Iqbal decisions.