Circuit split · erisa / employee benefits law
Whether the Supreme Court's decision in Mertens v. Hewitt Associates limits recovery under ERISA § 502(a)(3) to traditional equitable relief, thereby precluding compensatory or extracontractual money damages.
1 federal appellate case on this question, each acknowledging the disagreement in its own words.
- Gerbec v. United States164 F3D 1015
Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals · January 15, 1999
“Split Among the Circuits as to Whether Mertens Applies to the Continental Settlement The split among the circuits as to the legal issues before this Court today and the application of the Mertens decision to the various claims arising from the Continental settlement, is as sharply divided as the Mertens Court itself.” — Acknowledges a circuit split
Empirical analysis of this case →
The provision at issue
29 U.S.C. § 1132 — Civil enforcement
“(a) Persons empowered to bring a civil action A civil action may be brought— (1) by a participant or beneficiary— (A) for the relief provided for in subsection (c) of this section, or (B) to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan; (2) by the Secretary, or by a participant, beneficiary or fiduciary for appropriate relief under section 1109 of this title ; (3) by a participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary (A) …”Read the full section →
The other side of the split
Decisions the acknowledging court(s) named as the opposing or joined side, quoted in the acknowledging opinion's own words.
- Discussed · 4th Cir.Hemelt v. United States122 F.3d 204
“Like the Plaintiffs in the instant case, the Hemelt plaintiffs’ were seeking a refund of the federal income taxes and the FICA taxes withheld from their settlement awards from Continental.” — Gerbec v. United States, acknowledging the split
What the split turns on
- Anchor precedents:
- Mertens v. Hewitt Associates113 S.Ct. 2063
- Statutes:
- § 409(a) ·
- 29 U.S.C. § 1132(g)(2)(E) ·
- § 1024(a)(5)(C) ·
- § 1303(e)(1) ·
- § 1451(a)(1) ·
- § 502(a)(3)
Cases are grouped by the legal question they announce a split on, classified from the court's own acknowledgment sentence. Verified acknowledgments only. Counter-side decisions are extracted from the acknowledging opinions' own text and linked only when the citation resolves in this corpus. See all circuit splits.