SCOTUS reverses CTA5 on Twombly, 9-0

In the 9-0 per curiam opinion of Johnson v. City of Shelby, the Supreme Court reversed the Fifth Circuit’s dismissal of a civil rights claim for failure to cite the applicable statute: “Our decisions in [Twombly and Iqbal] are not in point, for they concern the factual allegations a complaint must contain to survive a motion to dismiss.  A plaintiff, they instruct, must plead facts sufficient to show that her claim has substantive plausibility.  Petitioners’ complaint was not deficient in that regard.  Petitioners stated simply, concisely, and directly events that, they alleged, entitled them to damages from the city.  Having informed the city of the factual basis for their complaint, they were required to do no more to stave off threshold dismissal for want of an adequate statement of their claim.”  No. 13-1318, 574 U.S. ___ (Nov. 10, 2014).  Law360 has covered the case.  Here is the actual pleading at issue.