Ashcroft v. Iqbal

Holding court need not credit "mere conclusory statements" in complaint

Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly

Holding that allegations of conduct that are merely consistent with wrongdoing do not state a claim unless "placed in a context that raises a suggestion of" such wrongdoing

Pearson v. Callahan

Holding that a court may, without deciding whether there was a constitutional violation, look to the question of whether that right was "clearly established"

Harlow v. Fitzgerald

Holding that public officials are entitled to a "qualified immunity" from "liability for civil damages insofar as their conduct does not violate clearly established . . . rights of which a reasonable person would have known"

County of Sacramento v. Lewis

Holding that "only a purpose to cause harm unrelated to the legitimate object of arrest will satisfy the element of arbitrary conduct shocking to the conscience, necessary for a due process violation"

Daniels v. Williams

Holding that "the Due Process Clause [of the Fourteenth Amendment] is simply not implicated by a negligent act of an official causing unintended loss of or injury to life, liberty, or property"

Hudson v. Palmer

Holding that prisoners have no reasonable expectation of privacy

Deshaney v. Winnebago Cty. Soc. Servs. Dept

Holding that negligence by a county social services department which left a child permanently brain damaged by his abusive father did not shock the conscience

Gomez v. Toledo

Holding that defendant bears burden of pleading defenses

Salahuddin v. Cuomo

Holding that district court was "within bounds of discretion to strike or dismiss complaint for noncompliance with Rule 8" where complaint spanned "15 single-spaced pages," and contained "a surfeit of detail."

Section 1983 - Civil action for deprivation of rights

Holding liable any state actor who "subjects, or causes [a person] to be subjected" to a constitutional violation

Rule 12 - Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented; Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; Consolidating Motions; Waiving Defenses; Pretrial Hearing

Granting the court discretion to exclude matters outside the pleadings presented to the court in defense of a motion to dismiss

Rule 8 - General Rules of Pleading

Holding that "[e]very defense to a claim for relief in any pleading must be asserted in the responsive pleading. . . ."

Section 50-E - Notice of claim

Requiring that a plaintiff must file a notice of claim prior to commencement of an action against a municipality and must serve the notice of claim within ninety days after the claim arises

Section 349 - Deceptive acts and practices unlawful

Granting "any person who has been injured by reason of any violation of this section" the right to "bring an action in his own name"

Section 157 - Claims and actions against authorities