Cite as: 508 U. S. 248 (1993)
White, J., dissenting
text does not compel the majority's rejection of the reading of "appropriate equitable relief" advanced by petitioners and the Solicitor General—a reading that the majority acknowledges is otherwise plausible, see ante, at 256.7
III
Although the trust beneficiary historically had an equitable suit for damages against a fiduciary for breach of trust, as well as against a participating nonfiduciary, the majority today construes § 502(a)(3) as not affording such a remedy against any fiduciary or participating third party on the ground that damages are not "appropriate equitable relief." The majority's conclusion, as I see it, rests on transparently
1465 (CA5 1986), cert. denied, 479 U. S. 1034 (1987); Powell v. Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. of Virginia, 780 F. 2d 419, 424 (CA4 1985), cert. denied, 476 U. S. 1170 (1986). With respect to § 502(a)(2), however, under which a beneficiary may claim both "equitable" and "remedial" relief, see 29 U. S. C. § 1132(a)(2) (allowing "for appropriate relief under section 1109 of this title"), the courts are split over whether punitive damages may be recovered. Compare Kuntz v. Reese, 760 F. 2d 926, 938 (CA9 1985) (allowing such a recovery), vacated on other grounds, 785 F. 2d 1410, cert. denied, 479 U. S. 916 (1986), with Sommers Drug Stores, supra, at 1463 (disallowing such a recovery); see also Cox v. Eichler, 765 F. Supp. 601, 610-611 (ND Cal. 1990) (punitive damages available under § 502(a)(2) but not under § 502(a)(3)). This Court in Russell expressly reserved judgment on whether punitive damages might be recovered on behalf of an ERISA-governed plan under § 502(a)(2). Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. Russell, 473 U. S. 134, 144, n. 12 (1985).
7 The majority faults "[t]he notion that concern about punitive damages motivated Congress" in drafting ERISA on the grounds that the availability of punitive damages was not "a major issue" in 1974. Ante, at 257, n. 7. Neither, of course, is there anything to suggest that the availability of compensatory damages was a "major issue" in 1974, although the majority does not hesitate to attribute this concern to the 93d Congress. In any event, it seems to me considerably less fanciful to suppose that Congress was motivated by a desire to limit the availability of punitive damages than that it was moved by a desire to take from the statute's intended beneficiaries their traditional and possibly their only means of make-whole relief.
273
Page: Index Previous 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007