Opinion ID: 3030932
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Construing Miller’s Claim

Text: ERISA provides plan beneficiaries with both fiduciary and non-fiduciary causes of action. Miller’s complaint does not make clear whether he is pursuing both types of claim. In Count I, he seeks an adjustment of benefits under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), which provides a non-fiduciary cause of action to “recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan.” In Count II, Miller seeks equitable relief under 29 U.S.C. § 1132(a)(3), which provides a general cause of action “(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.” Also under Count II, Miller asserts that Resorts “intentionally misrepresented” his salary to Mutual Benefit in 1986 and failed to investigate fully his 2002 claim that he had been underpaid. Yet, nowhere in his complaint does Miller mention what substantive provision of ERISA his § 1132(a)(3) claim relies on, nor does he state the elements of a fiduciary cause of action. See Burstein v. Ret. Account Plan For Employees of Allegheny Health Educ. and Research, 334 F.3d 365, 387 (3d Cir. 2003) (reciting the elements of an ERISA fiduciary duty claim). Read as a whole, Count II suggests an attempt to make out a fiduciary claim under 29 U.S.C. § 1104(a), which imposes a standard of care on plan fiduciaries. See Meagher v. Int’l Ass’n of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Pension Plan, 856 F.2d 1418, 1423 (9th Cir. 1988) (evaluating underpayment of benefits as violation of 29 U.S.C. § 1104(a)); George L. Flint, ERISA: Fumbling the Limitations Period, 84 Neb. L. Rev. 313, 354-55 (2005) (arguing that federal courts should construe all claims for benefits due as fiduciary claims). Even so, we need not address whether Miller has properly asserted a fiduciary claim under ERISA because, on appeal, Miller only pursues a non-fiduciary claim for benefits under § 1132(a)(1)(B). His brief mentions neither ERISA’s fiduciary provisions nor § 1132(a)(3). Furthermore, Miller cites only case law pertaining to non-fiduciary claims, even though fiduciary claims are governed by separate precedent. Accordingly, we consider any fiduciary or § 1132(a)(3) -6- claims to be waived on appeal and therefore limit our discussion to his non-fiduciary claim for benefits under § 1132(a)(1)(B).