FAILURE TO STATE A CLAIM
Within a judicial forum, the failure to present suf-
ficient facts which, if taken as true, would indicate
that any violation of law occurred or that the
claimant is entitled to a legal remedy.
Failure to state a claim is frequently raised as
a defense in civil litigation. In some jurisdic-
tions, such as California, the defense is called a
demurrer. The successful invocation of this
defense will result in the dismissal of the case.
Courts will not dismiss a complaint in which
the plaintiff has a legal basis for a claim but has
made a technical error that renders the com-
plaint invalid. In such a case, courts allow the
petitioner to amend the complaint.
The defense of failure to state a claim is pro-
vided for in Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
12(b)(6) and in similar state court rules. Rule
12(b) states that defenses should be presented in
the defendant’s response to the complaint.How-
ever, the rule allows some defenses to be asserted
in a separate motion to the court, including the
defense that the plaintiff does not state a claim
upon which relief can be granted. The purpose
of these exceptions is to allow a defendant to
respond to procedural flaws in the filing of the
complaint without responding to the merits of
the case. Allowing the defendant to respond in a
separate motion also allows the court to dismiss
quickly civil claims that are without legal merit.
Dawson v. Wilheit, 735 P.2d 93 (1987), illus-
trates the dismissal of a suit for failure to state a
claim. In Dawson, the plaintiff brought suit
against Farmington, New Mexico, police officers
as well as the city of Farmington and a vehicle-
towing service. The suit was based on a chain of
events that had begun on November 20, 1983,
when the son of the plaintiff had been killed by
two men, who had placed his body in the trunk
of a car owned by one of the men. Shortly there-
after, the car owner had been arrested for driv-
ing while intoxicated.
Under police department policy, a police
officer should have conducted an inventory of
the vehicle with an employee of the towing serv-
ice, but this did not happen. After his release
from jail on the drunk-driving charge, the car
owner drove away from the lot and dumped the
body in a remote area, where it was not discov-
ered for six months.
300 FAILURE OF CONSIDERATION
WEST’S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LAW, 2nd Edition
The Tudor line of
English monarchs
ended in 1603 when
Queen Elizabeth I
died without issue.
She was succeeded by
her cousin, King
James VI of Scotland,
who became James I
of England.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESSThe plaintiffs sued, seeking COMPENSATORY
DAMAGES for negligent infliction of emotional
distress caused by the failure to conduct an
inventory and the resulting delay in finding the
body. The district court dismissed the complaint
on the ground that the plaintiffs had failed to
state a claim. On appeal, the Court of Appeals of
New Mexico affirmed the dismissal.
Under basic NEGLIGENCE law, no person may
be liable for the injuries of another unless he or
she breached a duty of care owed to the victim.
According to the state’s high court, the police
department’s inventory policy was in place to
protect the police and towing company from
claims of theft, and the police owed no duty to
the plaintiffs to find a body when they were
unaware of a killing. Thus, the plaintiffs had no
basis for their complaint, and their case had been
