Twiqbal is a colloquial term in American law (

civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and regulations along with some standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or ca ...

), referring to two separate US Supreme Court cases that heightened the

pleading In law as practiced in countries that follow the English models, a pleading is a formal written statement of one party's claims or defenses in response to another party's complaint(s) in a civil action. The parties' pleadings in a case define t ...

standard under the

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (officially abbreviated Fed. R. Civ. P.; colloquially FRCP) govern civil procedure in United States district courts. They are the companion to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. Rules promulgated by the ...

. Together, these cases made it more difficult to sue in federal court by requiring that plaintiffs demonstrate that their claims are "plausible", rather than simply describing the case in sufficient detail to put the defendant on

notice Notice is the legal concept describing a requirement that a party be aware of legal process affecting their rights, obligations or duties. There are several types of notice: public notice (or legal notice), actual notice, constructive notice. ...

. The two cases are ''

Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States involving United States antitrust law, antitrust law and civil procedure. Authored by Justice David Souter, it established that para ...

'', 550 U.S. 544 (2007) and ''

Ashcroft v. Iqbal ''Ashcroft v. Iqbal'', 556 U.S. 662 (2009), was a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case which held that plaintiffs must present a "plausible" cause of action. Alongside ''Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly'' (and togeth ...

'', 556 U.S. 662 (2009), and "Twiqbal" is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of Twombly and Iqbal. Because the two cases together have wrought a significant change in American

, the cases together, and the principle for which the cases stand, have both become commonly referred to as ''Twiqbal''.

''Iqbal'' expansion of ''Twombly''

The Supreme Court's 2009 ''Iqbal'' case elaborated the heightened standard of pleading it established two years previously in ''Twombly'', and established that it was generally applicable in all federal

civil litigation Civil law is a major "branch of the law", in common law legal systems such as those in England and Wales and in the United States, where it stands in contrast to criminal law. Glanville Williams. ''Learning the Law''. Eleventh Edition. Stevens. 1 ...

and not limited to

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

law:

Effects of Twiqbal

The effect of these two decisions has been described as "incredibly consequential" and "controversial". After ''Iqbal'' was decided, expanding ''Twombly''s reach beyond antitrust law, legislation was introduced to reverse the cases and re-introduce "notice pleading";See— * * neither bill passed.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{cite journal , last=Spencer , first=A Benjamin , year=2013 , title=Pleading and Access to Civil Justice: A Response to ''Twiqbal'' Apologists , url=http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/60-6-9.pdf , journal=UCLA Law Review , volume=60 , page=1710 et seq United States civil procedure Federal Rules of Civil Procedure case law United States motion to dismiss case law

''Iqbal'' expansion of ''Twombly''

Effects of Twiqbal

See also

References

Bibliography