Delaware Business Litigation Report

Spear Complaint Not Fatally Speculative

Spear Pharm. Inc. v. William Blair & Co. LLC, C.A No. 07-821-JJF (D. Del. Apr. 27 2009)

The district court denied motions to dismiss the complaint and found the Supreme Court’s decision in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007) instructive. In Twombly, the Supreme Court considered whether a complaint that alleged conspiracy to restrain trade, in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act, but lacked factual context suggesting an agreement, as distinct from identical, independent action, should be dismissed. The district court concluded that, under Twombly and Third Circuit precedent, the complaint was not “fatally speculative” and should not be dismissed. Unlike the Twombly complaint, where the allegations mentioned no specific time, place, or person involved in the alleged conspiracies, the Spear complaint cited an individual, a time frame, and a temporal sequence of events supporting the allegations.

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