First Reliance Asks Justices to Weigh ERISA Fiduciary Indemnity

First Reliance Standard Life Insurance Co. asked the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that fiduciaries of ERISA-covered benefit plans can sue their co-fiduciaries for contribution and indemnity in the event they’re found liable for a breach of duty.

The insurer’s petition, docketed Friday, raises a question that’s divided the federal courts: whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act permits a court to order one at-fault fiduciary of a benefit plan to indemnify another at-fault fiduciary for its liability.

First Reliance is appealing a Ninth Circuit decision forcing it to pay more than $450,000 to a Giorgio Armani Corp. employee ...