"In a rebuke to the Ninth Circuit, the Supreme Court granted the Amgen defendants' petition for certiorari, reversed the Ninth Circuit's judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with its opinion in the district court. The unanimous per curiam opinion was issued without further briefing and oral argument, an unusual step in civil cases. The substance of the opinion and its handling by summary disposition send a clear message: the Court meant what it said in Dudenhoeffer when it stressed the role of motions to dismiss in 'divid[ing] the plausible sheep from the meritless goats' and crafted new liability requirements that plaintiffs must plausibly allege are met in order to state a claim." [Amgen Inc. v. Harris, No. 15-278 (U.S. Jan. 25, 2016; per curiam)]  MORE >>