Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/563/421/opinion.html
Timestamp: 2017-07-20 20:27:48
Document Index: 697284405

Matched Legal Cases: ['§502', '§1132', '§502', '§198', '§24', '§199', '§24', '§108', '§692', '§154', '§856', '§307', '§861']

CIGNA Corp. v. Amara et al. (Opinion by Justice Breyer) :: 563 U.S. 421 (2011) :: Justia US Supreme Court Center Log In
At the same time the court considered whether ERISA §502(a)(3) also provided legal authority to enter this relief. That provision states that a civil action may be brought “by a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary (A) to enjoin any act or practice which violates any provision of this subchapter or the terms of the plan, or (B) to obtain other appropriate equitable relief (i) to redress such violations or (ii) to enforce any provisions of this subchapter or the terms of the plan.” 29 U. S. C. §1132(a)(3) (emphasis added).
With the exception of the relief now provided by §502(a)(1)(B), Restatement (Second) of Trusts §§198(1)–(2) (1957) (hereinafter Second Restatement); 4 Scott & Ascher §24.2.1, the remedies available to those courts of equity were traditionally considered equitable remedies, see Second Restatement §199; J. Adams, Doctrine of Equity:
A Commentary on the Law as Administered by the Court of Chancery 61 (7th Am. ed. 1881) (hereinafter Adams);
4 Scott & Ascher §24.2. The District Court’s affirmative and negative injunctions obviously fall within this category. Mertens, supra, at 256 (identifying injunctions, mandamus, and restitution as equitable relief ). And other relief ordered by the District Court resembles forms of traditional equitable relief. That is because equity chancellors developed a host of other “distinctively equitable” remedies—remedies that were “fitted to the nature of the primary right” they were intended to protect. 1 S. Symons, Pomeroy’s Equity Jurisprudence §108, pp. 139–140 (5th ed. 1941) (hereinafter Pomeroy). See generally 1 J. Story, Commentaries on Equity Jurisprudence §692 (12th ed. 1877) (hereinafter Story). Indeed, a maxim of equity states that “[e]quity suffers not a right to be without a remedy.” R. Francis, Maxims of Equity 29 (1st Am. ed. 1823). And the relief entered here, insofar as it does not consist of injunctive relief, closely resembles three other traditional equitable remedies.
But this showing is not always necessary for other equitable remedies. Equity courts, for example, would reform contracts to reflect the mutual understanding of the contracting parties where “fraudulent suppression[s], omission[s], or insertion[s],” 1 Story §154, at 149, “material[ly] … affect[ed]” the “substance” of the contract, even if the “complaining part[y]” was negligent in not realizing its mistake, as long as its negligence did not fall below a standard of “reasonable prudence” and violate a legal duty. 3 Pomeroy §§856, 856b, at 334, 340–341; see Baltzer, 115 U. S., at 645; Eaton §307(b). Nor did equity courts insist upon a showing of detrimental reliance in cases where they ordered “surcharge.” Rather, they simply ordered a trust or beneficiary made whole following a trustee’s breach of trust. In such instances equity courts would “mold the relief to protect the rights of the beneficiary according to the situation involved.” Bogert §861, at 4. This flexible approach belies a strict requirement of “detrimental reliance.”