Rodrigues v. Herman’s Empirical Analysis
121 F.3d 1352 · 1997
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 1 district ·
How this case has been cited
Cited by 14 later decisions — most recently February 2015
3 federal appellate · 1 district ·
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Applies 28 U.S.C. § 1291 · 29 U.S.C. § 1001 (§ 2 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 1002 (§ 3 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 1104 (§ 404 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974) · 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (§ 502 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974)
Relies on Mertens v. Hewitt Associates · Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund v. Central Transport, Inc. · Bagdadi v. Nazar · Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance v. Ludwig · Acosta v. Pacific Enterprises
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) In the case of— (A) any breach of fiduciary responsibility under (or other violation of) part 4 of this subtitle by a fiduciary, or (B) any knowing participation in such a breach or violation by any other person, the Secretary shall assess a civil penalty against such fiduciary or other person in an amount equal to 20 percent of the applicable recovery amount. (2) For purposes of paragraph (1), the term “applicable recovery amount” means any amount which is recovered from a fiduciary or other person with respect to a breach or violation described in paragraph (1)— (A) pursuant to any settlement agreement with the Secretary, or (B) ordered by a court to be paid by such fiduciary or other person to a plan or its participants and beneficiaries in a judicial proceeding instituted by the Secretary under subsection (a)(2) or (a)(5) of this section. (8) The Secretary may, in the Secretary’s sole discretion, waive or reduce the penalty under paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines in writing that- (A) the fiduciary or other person acted reasonably and in good faith, or (B) it is reasonable to expect that the fiduciary or other person will not be able to restore all losses to the plan (or to provide the relief ordered pursuant to subsection (a)(9) of this section) without severe financial hardship unless such waiver or reduction is granted ...”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[wjhile we agree ... that Congress’ intent in enacting § 502© was to strengthen enforcement and deter violations of fiduciary duties, we do not believe the statute contemplates punishment where no violation has occurred. The language of the statute permits imposition of the penalty only “in the case of any breach of fiduciary responsibility.” 29 U.S.C. § 1132 (Z )(1). The Secretary argues that the words “in the case of any breach” are merely an instruction “to the Secretary regarding when to assess the penalty; they are not an element of the penalty assessment itself.” Under this reading, however, the Secretary alone would determine when the fiduciary breach occurred that triggers the statute. If this were the case, the Secretary would have unchecked authority to impose a penalty, so long as some recovery had been gained through a settlement agreement.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“a fiduciary shall discharge his duties with respect to a plan solely in the interest of the participants and beneficiaries and beneficiaries and— (A) for the exclusive purpose of: (i) providing benefits to participants and their beneficiaries; (B) with the skill, prudence, and diligence under the circumstances then prevailing that a prudent man acting in a like capacity and familiar with such matters would use in the conduct of an enterprise of a like character and with like aims; (C) by diversifying the investments of the plan so as to minimize the risk of large losses, unless under the circumstances it is clearly prudent not to do so;.....”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.