Cite as: 516 U. S. 489 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
(through its § 409 cross-reference) to breaches of fiduciary duty, while the third subsection refers, as a kind of "catch-all," to all ERISA Title One violations. And it argues that a canon of statutory construction, namely "the specific governs over the general," means that the more specific second (fiduciary breach) subsection makes the more general third (catchall) subsection inapplicable to claims of fiduciary breach. Canons of construction, however, are simply "rules of thumb" which will sometimes "help courts determine the meaning of legislation." Connecticut Nat. Bank v. Ger-main, 503 U. S. 249, 253 (1992). To apply a canon properly one must understand its rationale. This Court has understood the present canon ("the specific governs the general") as a warning against applying a general provision when doing so would undermine limitations created by a more specific provision. See, e. g., Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 384-385 (1992); HCSC-Laundry v. United States, 450 U. S. 1, 6, 8 (1981); Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Products Corp., 353 U. S. 222, 228-229 (1957). Yet, in this case, why should one believe that Congress intended the specific remedies in § 409 as a limitation?
To the contrary, one can read § 409 as reflecting a special congressional concern about plan asset management without also finding that Congress intended that section to contain the exclusive set of remedies for every kind of fiduciary breach. After all, ERISA makes clear that a fiduciary has obligations other than, and in addition to, managing plan assets. See § 3(21)(A) (defining "fiduciary" as one who "exercises any discretionary authority . . . respecting management of such plan or . . . respecting management or disposition of its assets") (emphasis added). For example, as the dissent concedes, post, at 530, a plan administrator engages in a fiduciary act when making a discretionary determination about whether a claimant is entitled to benefits under the terms of the plan documents. See § 404(a)(1)(D); Dept. of Labor, Interpretive Bulletin 75-8, 29 CFR § 2509.75-8 (1995)
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