The Application of ‘Plausibility' to Affirmative Defenses: Has the Wave Crested?

Publisher: U.S. Law Week

October 28, 2015

Day Pitney Author(s) Jonathan I. Handler

Jonathan Handler and David Lieberman wrote an article, “The Application of ‘Plausibility' to Affirmative Defenses: Has the Wave Crested?,” for Bloomberg BNA’s U.S. Law Week. The article examines if the standard in Twombly and Iqbal can be used by plaintiffs to attack affirmative defenses. They note that the legal and policy issues undergirding Twombly and Iqbal stand on different ground when it comes to affirmative defenses, but still suggest providing some factual basis for affirmative defenses in answers to complaints