Opinion ID: 176780
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Required Allegations and the Standard of Review

Text: The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require that a claim for relief contain a short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief. Fed.R.Civ.P. 8(a)(2). A complaint may be dismissed to the extent that it fail[s] to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6). This Court reviews such a dismissal de novo. See Bernheim v. Litt, 79 F.3d 318, 321 (2d Cir.1996) (citation omitted). In doing so, we are constrained to `accept[] all factual allegations as true, and draw[] all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor.' Shomo v. City of New York, 579 F.3d 176, 183 (2d Cir.2009) (quoting Chambers v. Time Warner, Inc., 282 F.3d 147, 152 (2d Cir.2002)). We are also constrained, however, to ascertain that the complaint contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to `state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face.' Ashcroft v. Iqbal, ___ U.S. ___, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009) (quoting Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). In other words, a complaint is not required to have detailed factual allegations, but it demands more than an unadorned, the defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me accusation. Id. at 1949 (internal quotation marks omitted). In its formulation of the Twombly-Iqbal requirements for a statement of claim, the Supreme Court has established the following order to be followed in determining whether the pleading is adequate: When there are well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume their veracity and then determine whether they plausibly give rise to an entitlement to relief. Id. at 1950 (emphasis supplied).