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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI EASTERN DIVISION

CHRISTOPHER CLYBURN, Plaintiff, vs. LGC ASSOCIATES, Defendant.

) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) )

No. 4:10CV191-DJS

ORDER Now before the Court is defendant LGC Associates' motion to dismiss [Doc. #11] pro se plaintiff Christopher Clyburn's complaint [Doc. #1]. Plaintiff responded to the motion by

submitting to the Court letters he wrote to defendant prior to this lawsuit being filed and by filing a "motion for continued process," in which he asks the Court to have a trial or hearing to discuss the case. These matters are now ready for disposition. STANDARD OF REVIEW As an initial matter, the Court notes that plaintiff is a pro se litigant, and as such his pleadings are held "`to less stringent standards than formal pleadings drafted by lawyers.'" Ellis v. Butler, 890 F.2d 1001, 1003 (8th Cir. 1989) (quoting Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519, 520 (1972)). Nevertheless,

plaintiff must comply with substantive and procedural law. See Am. Inmate Paralegal Ass'n v. Cline, 859 F.2d 59, 61 (8th Cir. 1988).

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 8(a)(2), a pleading must contain a "short and plain statement of the claim showing that the pleader is entitled to relief." The pleading standard Rule 8

announces does not require "detailed factual allegations," Bell Atl. Corp. V. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 555 (2007), but "it demands more than an unadorned, the-defendant-unlawfully-harmed-me U.S. , 129 S. Ct. 1937,

accusation."

Ashcroft v. Iqbal,

1949 (2009). A pleading that offers legal conclusions, a formulaic recitation of elements, or naked assertions devoid of factual enhancement does not suffice. Id.

To survive a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6), a complaint must contain sufficient factual matter, accepted as true, to "state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Id.

A claim has facial plausibility when the alleged facts allow a court to draw the reasonable inference that the defendant is liable for the misconduct alleged. Id. The plausibility standard "asks

for more than a sheer possibility that a defendant has acted unlawfully." Id.

Only well-pleaded facts are accepted as true, while "[t]hreadbare recitals of the elements of a cause of action" and legal conclusions are not. Id. "[L]egal conclusions can provide

the framework of a complaint, [but] they must be supported by factual allegations." Id. at 1950. When a complaint contains

well-pleaded factual allegations, a court should assume the wellpleaded facts are true and then determine whether they plausibly 2

entitle the plaintiff to relief.

Id.

If the well-pleaded facts do

not plausibly entitle the plaintiff to relief, the claim should be dismissed. Id. THE COMPLAINT Plaintiff's pro se complaint was filed using a form provided for pro se plaintiffs by the Eastern District of Missouri clerk's office. It is entitled "Employment Discrimination

Complaint," and contains instructions, checklists, and blank lines for written statements that allow pro se plaintiffs to easily put defendants on notice of the legal bases for their claims. In the first section, the complaint form asks pro se plaintiffs to indicate on which statute their claims are based. In this case, plaintiff indicates that his claims are based on Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ("Title VII"), as amended, 42 U.S.C.

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