Twombly-Iqbal standard

Two Supreme Court cases, Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, changed how federal complaints are judged. Under this standard, a court ignores legal conclusions and labels and looks at the actual facts pleaded. Those facts have to make it plausible, not just imaginable, that the defendant did something wrong. The standard is higher than the older notice pleading rule and is the main test used on motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim. Many state courts have followed suit, while others still use the older, easier standard.