United States Fifth Circuit

Dismissal breach of fiduciary duties claims brought under ERISA by plaintiffs, a subset of participants in a certain 401(k) plan, against defendants, an airline and other fiduciaries of the plan, is vacated where the district court erred in dismissing the claims under Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) and in concluding the claims were disguised benefits claims requiring exhaustion of administrative remedies.

Appellate Information

• Decided 03/02/2006
• Published 03/02/2006

Judges

• PER CURIAM:, Before JONES, Chief Judge, and KING, JOLLY, HIGGINBOTHAM, DAVIS, SMITH, WIENER, BARKSDALE, GARZA, DeMOSS, BENAVIDES, STEWART, DENNIS, CLEMENT, PRADO and OWEN, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Fifth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jani K. Rachelson (argued), Bruce S. Levine, Elizabeth O'Leary, Cohen, Weiss & Simon, New York City, Hal K. Gillespie, Gillespie, Rozen, Watsky, Motley & Jones, Dallas, TX, for Plaintiffs-Appellants., Elizabeth Hopkins (argued), Karen L. Handorf, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Washington, DC, for U.S. Dept. of Labor, Amicus Curiae., Mary Ellen Signorille, AARP, Washington, DC, for AARP, Amicus Curiae., Eugene B. Granof, Air Line Pilots Ass'n, Herndon, VA, Jerry D. Anker, Airline Pilots Ass'n Intern., Washington, DC, for Air Line Pilots Ass'n Intern., Amicus Curiae.


• For Appellees:
  
• Edward Patterson Perrin, Jr. (argued), Jennifer Ruth Poe, Hallett & Perrin, Dallas, TX, Gregory Scott Coleman, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Austin, TX, for Defendant-Appellee.