Skip Cornell ERISA Retirement Plan Battle, School Tells Justices

Cornell University advised the US Supreme Court to skip a case over its retirement plans, telling the justices there’s no circuit split under ERISA warranting their attention.

The federal appeals courts have articulated different standards for pleading a violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s prohibited transaction rules, but no court has adopted the “expansive” rule championed by the Cornell workers, the school said in an opposition brief filed Monday. The claims against Cornell would fail even under the workers’ proposed standard, the school said, making the case a “poor vehicle” for Supreme Court review.

The workers want the ...