Failure to State Cause of Action

Mere existence of a cause of action is not sufficient for a complaint to prosper. Even if the plaintiff ACTUALLY AND REALLY has a cause of action against the defendant, the complaint may be dismissed if the complaint or the pleading asserting the claim "states no cause of action." This means that the cause of action must unmistakably be stated or alleged in the complaint or that all the elements of the cause of action required by substantive law must clearly appear from the mere reading of the complaint.
To avoid an early dismissal of the complaint, the simple dictum to be followed is: "If you have a cause of action, then by all means, state it!" Where there is a defect or an insufficiency in the statement of the cause of action, a complaint may be dismissed not because of an absence or a lack of cause of action but because the complaint states no cause of action. The dismissal will therefore, be anchored on a "failure to state a cause of action."