Motion to Dismiss Drafter
When the complaint has clear legal deficiencies, such as jurisdictional defects, time bars, or failure to plead essential elements.
A motion to dismiss tests the legal sufficiency of a complaint before the parties spend resources on discovery. Whether the argument is failure to state a claim under Rule 12(b)(6), a jurisdictional defect, or a time bar, the motion must marshal the operative facts, state the governing standard precisely, and apply binding authority to the pleadings. A well-structured motion can resolve a case early or meaningfully narrow the claims that survive.
Drafting these motions is detail-intensive: every factual assertion should cite the complaint, and every legal proposition should rest on the strongest available authority. Claude is well suited to producing a disciplined first draft from your inputs, organizing the argument by ground, drafting the legal-standard section, and proposing Bluebook-style citation formatting. That lets you spend your time on strategy and on confirming the law rather than on assembling structure from scratch.
The prompt below is a starting point. Replace the bracketed placeholders with your case specifics, then independently verify every citation and quotation against the actual record and current law. Claude's output is attorney work product to be reviewed and revised, not legal advice and not a filing-ready brief. The signing attorney remains responsible for Rule 11 compliance and the accuracy of all authority.
The Prompt
I represent the defendant. Draft a motion to dismiss the complaint below. <complaint> [PASTE THE COMPLAINT] </complaint> <authorities> [LIST THE CASES, STATUTES, AND RULES YOU HAVE ALREADY VERIFIED, WITH THE PROPOSITION EACH SUPPORTS] </authorities> Court: [COURT NAME AND JURISDICTION] Case: [CASE NAME AND NUMBER] Grounds for dismissal: [e.g., failure to state a claim (Rule 12(b)(6) or state equivalent), lack of personal jurisdiction, statute of limitations, failure to join a required party] Proposed order: [YES / NO] Structure the motion: 1. Caption and introduction: state the relief requested in one paragraph 2. Statement of facts, drawn only from the complaint and any documents properly before the court on a motion to dismiss 3. Legal standard for each ground 4. Argument: a separate subheading for each ground, strongest first 5. Conclusion restating the specific relief requested 6. If I answered yes above, a short proposed order Rules for this draft: - Cite complaint paragraphs only as they appear in the pasted complaint. - Use only the authorities in <authorities>. Where a proposition needs support I have not provided, insert [AUTHORITY NEEDED: proposition] instead of citing a case. - Flag any ground that depends on facts outside the complaint. If something I need is missing or ambiguous, say so instead of assuming. Do not invent facts, citations, or quotations; mark anything you are unsure of [VERIFY]. This is a draft for attorney review.
Example Output
A 10-15 page motion with caption, argument by ground, citations limited to the authorities you supplied, [AUTHORITY NEEDED] markers where support is missing, and an optional proposed order.
Illustrative example — names, figures, and facts are fictional.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF STATELAND
ACME WIDGETS, INC.,
Plaintiff,
v. Case No. 26-cv-04521
ORION SUPPLY CO.,
Defendant.
DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO DISMISS THE COMPLAINT
INTRODUCTION
Defendant Orion Supply Co. respectfully moves to dismiss the Complaint in its entirety under Rule 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim and, in the alternative, as barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Even accepting the Complaint's well-pleaded facts as true, Plaintiff has not alleged the essential elements of breach, and its claims accrued more than four years before filing.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
The Complaint alleges that the parties entered a supply agreement on January 5, 2021 (Compl. ¶ 8) and that Orion's final delivery occurred on or about February 12, 2021 (Compl. ¶ 14). Plaintiff filed suit on May 3, 2026 (Dkt. 1).
LEGAL STANDARD
To survive a motion to dismiss, a complaint must plead "enough facts to state a claim to relief that is plausible on its face." Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 570 (2007). Threadbare recitals of the elements, supported by conclusory statements, do not suffice.
ARGUMENT
I. The Breach-of-Contract Claim Fails to Allege Causation and Damages.
The Complaint identifies no specific contractual provision Orion purportedly breached and pleads damages only as "losses to be proven at trial" (Compl. ¶ 21). [AUTHORITY NEEDED: failure to identify the provision breached and resulting damages defeats a breach-of-contract claim.]
II. The Claim Is Time-Barred.
Plaintiff's claim accrued no later than February 12, 2021, yet suit was not filed until May 3, 2026, outside the four-year limitations period. [AUTHORITY NEEDED: applicable limitations statute.]
CONCLUSION
For the foregoing reasons, Orion respectfully requests that the Court dismiss the Complaint with prejudice. A proposed order is submitted herewith.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Jordan Avery
Jordan Avery, Esq.
Counsel for Defendant Orion Supply Co.Tips
- •Lead with your strongest ground for dismissal.
- •Raise every Rule 12(b)(2)-(5) defense in your first Rule 12 motion or risk waiving it; check your state's equivalent rule.
- •Check local rules and standing orders for meet-and-confer requirements, page limits, and any AI-use certification before filing.
- •Treat the output as a draft for attorney review; verify every citation, quotation, date and figure against the source before relying on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is a motion to dismiss the right tool, and how do I use this prompt?
File a motion to dismiss when the complaint has a legal defect that can be resolved on the pleadings: a jurisdictional problem, a time bar, or failure to plead an essential element. Provide Claude the court, the specific Rule 12 ground(s), the operative facts, and your intended authority. Lead with your strongest ground so the draft prioritizes it.
Can I file Claude's draft as-is?
No. The output is a structural first draft only. You must independently verify every case and statute in your research database, confirm each citation to the complaint is accurate, check the brief against your local rules and page limits, and conform the citations to your jurisdiction's format. The signing attorney bears full Rule 11 responsibility for the filing.
How do I get the most reliable output from this prompt?
Paste the full complaint so Claude cites paragraphs that actually exist, and list the controlling authority you have already confirmed is good law. Claude is told to use only those authorities and to insert [AUTHORITY NEEDED] wherever a proposition lacks support, rather than citing from memory. Precise, well-sourced inputs produce a tighter draft and reduce the risk of unsupported assertions.
Is it ethical to use AI to draft a court filing, and what about hallucinated citations?
Yes, with appropriate supervision. ABA Formal Opinion 512 and the duty of competence require you to understand the tool's limits and verify its work. Generative models can fabricate plausible-looking citations, and courts have sanctioned lawyers who filed unverified AI-generated authority. Always confirm every case and quotation in your research database and citator before filing, and protect client confidentiality in your inputs.
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