29 U.S.C. § 1451
Section 1451 · Civil actions
This is § 4301 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 332 court decisions — leading case Trw Inc v. Adelaide Andrews (2001)
Most recently applied in Allied Painting & Decorating Inc v. Intl Painters & Allied Trades Industry Pension (July 2024)
Applied most in the District Circuit Circuit (30 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 29 U.S.C. § 1399 · 29 U.S.C. § 1401 · 29 U.S.C. § 1132
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(1) A plan fiduciary, employer, plan participant, or beneficiary, who is adversely affected by the act or omission of any party under this subtitle with respect to a multiemployer plan, or an employee organization which represents such a plan participant or beneficiary for purposes of collective bargaining, may bring an action for appropriate legal or equitable relief, or both.
(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), this section does not authorize an action against the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Labor, or the corporation.
In any action under this section to compel an employer to pay withdrawal liability, any failure of the employer to make any withdrawal liability payment within the time prescribed shall be treated in the same manner as a delinquent contribution (within the meaning of section 1145 of this title).
The district courts of the United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction of an action under this section without regard to the amount in controversy, except that State courts of competent jurisdiction shall have concurrent jurisdiction over an action brought by a plan fiduciary to collect withdrawal liability.
An action under this section may be brought in the district where the plan is administered or where a defendant resides or does business, and process may be served in any district where a defendant resides, does business, or may be found.
In any action under this section, the court may award all or a portion of the costs and expenses incurred in connection with such action, including reasonable attorney's fees, to the prevailing party.
An action under this section may not be brought after the later of—
(1) 6 years after the date on which the cause of action arose, or
(2) 3 years after the earliest date on which the plaintiff acquired or should have acquired actual knowledge of the existence of such cause of action; except that in the case of fraud or concealment, such action may be brought not later than 6 years after the date of discovery of the existence of such cause of action.
A copy of the complaint in any action under this section or section 1401 of this title shall be served upon the corporation by certified mail. The corporation may intervene in any such action.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Effective Date
Part effective Sept. 26, 1980, except as specifically provided, see section 1461(e) of this title.