Cite as: 516 U. S. 489 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
ously motivated by our decision in Russell. We held in Russell that § 409 authorizes recovery only by "the plan as an entity," 473 U. S., at 140, and does not allow for recovery by individual plan participants. Id., at 139-144; see also id., at 144 ("Congress did not intend that section to authorize any relief except for the plan itself"). The respondents, however, do not seek relief on behalf of the plan; rather they wish to recover individually. We reserved the question whether relief might be available for individuals under § 502(a)(3) in Russell, id., at 139, n. 5, and respondents rightly understood this provision to offer the only possible route for securing their desired relief.
We would have to read § 502(a)(3) in a vacuum, however, to find in respondents' favor. Congress went to great lengths to enumerate ERISA's fiduciary obligations and duties, see §§ 401-408; §§ 410-412, to create liability for breach of those obligations, see § 409, and to authorize a civil suit to enforce those provisions, see § 502(a)(2). Section 502(a)(3), in contrast, is a generally worded provision that fails even to mention fiduciary duty. "[I]t is a commonplace of statutory construction that the specific governs the general." Morales v. Trans World Airlines, Inc., 504 U. S. 374, 384 (1992) (citing Crawford Fitting Co. v. J. T. Gibbons, Inc., 482 U. S. 437, 445 (1987)). "[T]he law is settled that '[h]owever inclusive may be the general language of a statute, it "will not be held to apply to a matter specifically dealt with in another part of the same enactment." ' " Fourco Glass Co. v. Transmirra Products Corp., 353 U. S. 222, 228 (1957) (citations omitted). This is particularly true where, as here, Congress has enacted a comprehensive scheme and has deliberately targeted specific problems with specific solutions. See HCSC-Laundry v. United States, 450 U. S. 1, 6 (1981) (per curiam) (This "basic principle of statutory construction" applies "particularly when the two [provisions] are interrelated and closely positioned, both in fact being parts of" the same
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