The burden of allegation, also known as the burden of pleading, refers to the plaintiff’s obligation to plead sufficient assertions of facts to support a cause of action against a defendant.
As established by the seminal cases Ashcroft v. Iqbal and Bell Atlantic v. Twombly, a party must plead sufficient, non-conclusory facts which state a claim of recovery that is “plausible on its face” to meet the burden of allegation.
A party who fails to meet their burden of allegation will have their case dismissed through a Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6) motion.
[Last updated in June of 2022 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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