F.R.C.P 8(a) and 8(c) requires so-called notice pleading for the claims made in pleadings. Notice pleading requires a party to plead with specificity sufficient to give an opposing party notice of what the claim(s) being made are. A question has arisen in federal court as to whether affirmative defenses, a type of pleading typically filed by a defendant against a plaintiff’s complaint, need to meet the specificity requirement mentioned above.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in the matters of Bell Atlantic Corporation v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009), appeared to create new pleading standards; however their application to affirmative defenses is unclear.
