Opinion ID: 38070
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: because of the failure to effect the transfer of

Text: Milofsky and Walsh were pilots for Busin- the class members’ account balances in a timeess Express, Inc. (“BEX”), when it was ac- ly and prudent manner, the values of their quired by AMR Eagle Holding Corporation, accounts decreased because the assets the parent company of American Eagle, Inc. remained invested in the floundering BEX Plan (“American Eagle”). While employed with longer than expected. Plaintiffs requested BEX, the plaintiffs participated in its individual actual damages to be paid to the $uper $aver account pension plan, called the “BEX Saving Plan, to be allocated among their individual acand Profit Sharing Plan” (“BEX Plan”). counts proportionately to their losses resulting from the alleged breach. At the time of the acquisition, plaintiffs were informed that the balances in their ac- The district court dismissed the action, findcounts in the BEX Plan would be transferred ing that plaintiffs lack standing to sue under to a comparable American Eagle § 401(k) § 502(a)(2) and that they are barred from plan, the “$uper $aver Plan.” The notice re- suing in federal court because they failed to garding this transfer was sent to them by Tow- exhaust administrative remedies. The court ers Perrin, a benefits consulting firm hired by also found that plaintiffs could not sue Towers 2 Perrin because they did not allege specific facts dial purpose of ERISA.2 Third-party administhat would establish that it was an ERISA trators who perform merely administrative fiduciary. The dismissal is the subject of the duties, however, are not fiduciaries under instant appeal. ERISA.3 In determining whether a party is a fiduciary for the purpose of maintaining an