## Facts

- James LaRue participated in his employer’s ERISA-governed defined contribution 401(k) plan and could direct investments within his individual account.
- LaRue alleged that starting in 2001 he instructed plan administrators to make specific changes to his account investments.
- He alleged the administrators failed to execute those directions.
- LaRue claimed the alleged failure depleted his individual account by about $150,000.
- He sued plan fiduciaries under ERISA § 502(a)(2) (seeking relief under ERISA § 409) and also invoked ERISA § 502(a)(3).

## Issues

1. Whether ERISA § 502(a)(2), incorporating ERISA § 409, permits a plan participant to recover losses attributable to the participant’s individual account in a defined contribution plan that were caused by a fiduciary breach.
2. Whether earlier precedent limiting § 502(a)(2) to relief for injuries to the “entire plan” bars claims focused on a single participant’s account in a defined contribution plan.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court vacated the Fourth Circuit’s judgment and remanded.
- The Court held that § 502(a)(2) does not provide a remedy for purely individual injuries distinct from plan injuries, but it authorizes recovery for fiduciary breaches that impair plan assets held in a participant’s individual account.
- The Court rejected a categorical rule that § 502(a)(2) relief must benefit all participants; in defined contribution plans, loss to one account can constitute a “loss[] to the plan.”
- Because the § 502(a)(2) theory could proceed, the Court did not resolve the scope of monetary relief potentially available under § 502(a)(3) in this case.

## Legal Principles

- ERISA § 502(a)(2) authorizes “appropriate relief” under ERISA § 409, which makes fiduciaries personally liable to make good to the plan losses resulting from fiduciary breaches.
- In a defined contribution plan, fiduciary misconduct that reduces the value of assets allocated to a participant’s individual account is a loss to plan assets and can be remedied under § 502(a)(2).
- References in earlier precedent to protecting the “entire plan” are tied to defined benefit and similar arrangements where participants have fixed promised benefits and mismanagement typically harms participants by increasing the risk of plan default.
- For defined contribution plans, fiduciary mismanagement can reduce a participant’s benefits without threatening plan-wide solvency, and ERISA’s fiduciary-liability provision reaches that form of asset diminution.

## Conclusion

The Court held that a participant in a defined contribution plan may sue under ERISA § 502(a)(2) to recover losses to the participant’s individual account caused by fiduciary breach, vacating the contrary appellate judgment and remanding for further proceedings.


LaRue v. DeWolff, Boberg & Assocs., Inc., 552 U.S. 248 (2008)