Circuit ‘Crash’ Over Benefit Plan Conflicts Cues High Court Look

The fate of an emerging strategy plaintiff’s firms use to advance employer-sponsored benefit plan mismanagement cases is at stake as the US Supreme Court tackles a multifaceted debate over a decades-old conflict-of-interest law.

Cornell University workers recently won their bid for high-court review of a US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decision affirming the dismissal of claims that their 403(b) plan engaged in prohibited transactions with service providers. At issue is a single, vague clause in the 1974 Employee Retirement Income Security Act that defines with whom plans are prohibited from transacting.

ERISA lists any “person providing services ...