Pam Webb v. Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, Inc.

Summary

The Tennessee Supreme Court declined to adopt the federal Twombly/Iqbal 'plausibility' pleading standard, holding that Rule 12.02(6) motions to dismiss continue to be governed by Tennessee's longstanding notice-pleading regime, under which dismissal is proper only when it appears the plaintiff can prove no set of facts entitling her to relief. Applying that standard, the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals' vacatur of the trial court's dismissal, concluding that Pam Webb's amended complaint sufficiently stated retaliatory-discharge claims under the Tennessee Public Protection Act and Tennessee common law. The Court gave five reasons for rejecting plausibility pleading: its drastic departure from stable notice-pleading principles; its improper merits-weighing at the pleading stage, with implications for the inviolate right of jury trial; the unworkable fact/conclusion dichotomy; its disproportionate impact on discovery-dependent civil-rights and employment-discrimination claims; and the absence of any showing that the federal policy concerns behind Twombly/Iqbal prevail in Tennessee, with any such procedural change reserved to the rule-making process rather than judicial fiat.