Service Provider Managing Stable-Value Fund Was Not a Functional Fiduciary Under ERISA: Tenth Circuit | Practical Law
In litigation involving a service provider's management of a stable-value fund that was included as an investment option for an employer retirement plan, the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the service provider. The Tenth Circuit held that the service provider was not a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and therefore could not be held liable for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty. The court also concluded that the participant could not recover on his alternative claim alleging the service provider was a non-fiduciary party in interest that participated in a prohibited transaction because he failed to show the relief he sought was equitable under ERISA.