Cite as: 508 U. S. 248 (1993)
White, J., dissenting
110; see also H. R. Rep. No. 93-533, supra, at 11; S. Rep. No. 93-127, p. 29 (1973); 120 Cong. Rec. 29928, 29932 (1974) (statement of Sen. Williams).
Accordingly, it is to the common law of trusts that we must look in construing the scope of the "appropriate equitable relief" for breaches of trust contemplated by § 502(a)(3), 29 U. S. C. § 1132(a)(3).1 As the majority notes, at common law
1 As an initial matter, the majority expresses some uncertainty about whether § 502(a)(3) affords a cause of action and any sort of remedy against nonfiduciaries who participate in a fiduciary's breach of duty under the statute. See ante, at 253-254. In my view, however, the statute clearly does not bar such a suit. Section 502(a)(3) gives a cause of action to any participant, beneficiary, or fiduciary of an ERISA-governed plan "to redress . . . violations" of the statute. There can be no dispute that when an ERISA fiduciary breaches his or her duty of care in managing the plan, there has been a violation of the statute. See 29 U. S. C. § 1104. The only question then is whether the remedies provided by § 502(a)(3) "to redress such [a] violatio[n]" must stop with the breaching fiduciary or may extend to nonfiduciaries who actively assist in the fiduciary's breach. Section 502(a)(3) does not expressly provide for such a limitation and it does not seem appropriate to import one given that trust beneficiaries clearly had such a remedy at common law, see ante, at 256, 261, 262, and that ERISA is grounded in that common law and was intended, above all, to protect the interests of beneficiaries.
Moreover, the amendment of the statute in 1989, adding § 502(l), seems clearly to reflect Congress' understanding that ERISA provides such a remedy. As the majority notes, see ante, at 259, § 502(l) empowers the Secretary of Labor to assess a civil penalty against nonfiduciaries who "knowing[ly] participat[e]" in a fiduciary's breach of trust. 29 U. S. C. § 1132(l)(1)(B) (1988 ed., Supp. III). The subsection further provides that this penalty shall be "equal to 20 percent of the applicable recovery amount" obtained from the nonfiduciary in a proceeding under § 502(a)(5), which provides a cause of action to the Secretary that parallels that provided to beneficiaries under § 502(a)(3). §§ 1132(l)(1) and (2); see also ante, at 260. This provision clearly contemplates that some remedy may be had under § 502(a)(5)—and, by necessary implication, under § 502(a)(3)—against nonfiduciaries for "knowing participation" in a fiduciary's "breach of fiduciary responsibilit[ies]." § 1132(l)(1). Given that this understanding accords with well-established common-law trust principles undergirding ERISA and that it is also compatible with the language of § 502(a)(3), I see no basis for doubting the validity of petitioners' cause of action.
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