Solicitor General Supports Supreme Court Review of ERISA Remedies Case

This update on LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates (which we highlighted here previously) courtesy of Amy Howe of the SCOTUSblog:

[I]t looks like the Court may have another case for its OT2007 line-up:  the United States (in a brief available here) recommended that cert. be granted in No. 06-856, LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates . . . .

LaRue presents two questions: (1) whether, pursuant to Section 502(a)(2) of ERISA, a participant in a defined contribution pension plan may sue to recover losses to the plan caused by a breach of fiduciary duty, even when those losses affected only the participant’s individual account; and (2) whether an action by a plan participant against a fiduciary to recover losses caused by a breach of duty seeks “equitable relief” for purposes of ERISA Section 502(a)(3).

In the view of the U.S., the Fourth Circuit in LaRue erred in answering both of the two questions presented in the negative.

Read the rest of the SCOTUSblog post to get a good summary of why the government thinks these remedial sections of ERISA should be construed more broadly.

PS