Source: http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/552/06-856/concurrence2.html
Timestamp: 2014-07-30 15:21:51
Document Index: 565550293

Matched Legal Cases: ['§409', '§502', '§409', '§409', '§1103', '§409', '§502']

LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc. :: 552 U.S. ___ (2008) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center Justia.comFind a LawyerLegal AnswersLawMore ▾Justia BlogVerdictLaw Blog DirectoryLegal FormsUS Law US Supreme Court Cases Federal Cases US Constitution US Code Federal RegulationsFederal DocketsState CasesState Codes & StatutesTrademarksPatentsCompany Legal ProfilesMarketing ServicesSign InSearchJustia › US Law › US Case Law › US Supreme Court › Volume 552 › LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc. › Concurrence
NEW - Receive Justia's FREE Daily Newsletters of Opinion Summaries for the US Supreme Court, all US Federal Appellate Courts & the 50 US State Supreme Courts and Weekly Practice Area Opinion Summaries Newsletters. Subscribe NowLaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Associates, Inc.552 U.S. ___ (2008)Annotate this CaseOpinionPDFSyllabusOpinion
appeals for the fourth circuit[February 20, 2008] Justice Thomas, with whom Justice Scalia joins, concurring in the judgment.
The plain text of §409(a), which uses the term “plan” five times, leaves no doubt that §502(a)(2) authorizes recovery only for the plan. Likewise, Congress’ repeated use of the word “any” in §409(a) clarifies that the key factor is whether the alleged losses can be said to be losses “to the plan,” not whether they are otherwise of a particular nature or kind. See, e.g., Ali v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, ante, at 4 (noting that the natural reading of “any” is “one or some indiscriminately of whatever kind” (internal quotation marks omitted)). On their face, §§409(a) and 502(a)(2) permit recoveryof all plan losses caused by a fiduciary breach.
The allocation of a plan’s assets to individual accounts for bookkeeping purposes does not change the fact that all the assets in the plan remain plan assets. A defined contribution plan is not merely a collection of unrelated accounts. Rather, ERISA requires a plan’s combined assets to be held in trust and legally owned by the plan trustees. See 29 U. S. C. §1103(a) (providing that “all assets of an employee benefit plan shall be held in trust by one or more trustees”). In short, the assets of a defined contribution plan under ERISA constitute, at the very least, the sum of all the assets allocated for bookkeeping purposes to the participants’ individual accounts. Because a defined contribution plan is essentially the sum of its parts, losses attributable to the account of an individual participant are necessarily “losses to the plan” for purposes of §409(a). Accordingly, when a participant sustains losses to his individual account as a result of a fiduciary breach, the plan’s aggregate assets are likewise diminished by the same amount, and §502(a)(2) permits that participant to recover such losses on behalf of the plan.** Of course, a participant suing to recover benefits on behalf of the plan is not entitled to monetary relief payable directly to him; rather, any recovery must be paid to the plan.