Full 11th Circuit Decides to Review Unique ERISA Exhaustion Rule

The full slate of Eleventh Circuit judges will rehear a case involving a seafood company’s employee stock ownership plan, giving the court an opportunity to eliminate its unique rule on administrative exhaustion under ERISA.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday withdrew a 2025 opinion rejecting a lawsuit over Inland Fresh Seafood Corp. of America’s ESOP because the workers who filed suit didn’t first exhaust their administrative remedies under the plan. The court said it would rehear the case en banc, which would allow it to rethink—or overrule—the circuit’s outlier approach to exhaustion under the ...