A "Plausible" Defense: Applying Twombly and Iqbal to Affirmative Defenses

The United States Supreme Court's decisions in Twombly and lqbal radically altered the environment in which federal complaints are filed by creating a "plausibility" requirement where the Federal Rules before required only a "short and plain statement" providing "notice" of a claim. The lower federal courts have just now begun to deal with the Twombly-lqbal fallout. This Article addresses whether the new plausibility pleading standard applies only to plaintiffs' complaints, or whether it also applies to affirmative defenses raised in defendants' answers.