Cite as: 525 U. S. 432 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
ignated for contributing participants. The District Court granted Hughes' motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim. A divided panel of the Ninth Circuit reversed. 105 F. 3d 1288 (1997), amended, 128 F. 3d 1305 (1998). The majority concluded that the 1991 amendment may have terminated the Plan and created two plans: one consisting of pre-existing members and the other consisting of new participants. Distinguishing Lockheed Corp. v. Spink, 517 U. S. 882 (1996), as concerning a plan funded solely by employer contributions, the majority held that the act of amending the Plan triggered ERISA's fiduciary provisions. The majority also thought that the employees who were members of the contributory structure had a vested interest in the Plan's surplus.
Accordingly, the Court of Appeals concluded that respondents had alleged six causes of action in their complaint. Specifically, respondents claimed that Hughes had violated ERISA's prohibition against using employees' vested, nonforfeitable benefits to meet its obligations by depleting the surplus to fund the noncontributory structure. § 203, 29 U. S. C. § 1053(a). They further argued that Hughes had violated ERISA's anti-inurement prohibition, § 403(c)(1), 29 U. S. C. § 1103(c)(1), by benefiting itself at the expense of the Plan's surplus. Respondents also alleged that Hughes had breached its fiduciary duties under ERISA in three ways: amending the Plan in 1989 to fund a program outside of the Plan's purposes violated § 404(a)(1)(D), 29 U. S. C. § 1104(a)(1)(D); amending the Plan in 1991 to create the non-contributory structure violated § 406(a)(1)(D), 29 U. S. C. § 1106(a)(1)(D); and using the surplus assets to fund noncontributory benefits for those who had never contributed to the Plan violated § 404, 29 U. S. C. § 1104. Finally, respondents claimed that the alleged termination of the Plan had violated § 4044(d)(3)(A), 29 U. S. C. § 1344(d)(3)(A), which requires that residual assets in a terminated plan be distributed to its beneficiaries.
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