Cite as: 516 U. S. 489 (1996)
Thomas, J., dissenting
§ 409 (authorizing "such . . . equitable . . . relief as the court may deem appropriate") with § 502(a)(3) (authorizing "appropriate equitable relief"). While I would disagree with the majority's strained statutory interpretation in any case, "[t]he assumption of inadvertent omission is rendered especially suspect upon close consideration of ERISA's inter-locking, interrelated, and interdependent remedial scheme, which is in turn part of a 'comprehensive and reticulated statute.' " Russell, supra, at 146 (quoting Nachman Corp. v. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, 446 U. S., at 361). See also Mackey v. Lanier Collection Agency & Service, Inc., 486 U. S. 825, 837 (1988).2
The majority's reading of § 502(a)(3) also renders a portion of § 409 superfluous. If, as the Court today holds, § 502(a)(3) authorizes relief for breaches of fiduciary duty, then that section must authorize relief on behalf of the plan as well as on behalf of individuals. Nothing in § 502(a)(3) limits relief
2 The majority apparently believes that § 502(a)(1)(B), 29 U. S. C. § 1132(a)(1)(B), "provides a remedy for breaches of fiduciary duty with respect to the interpretation of plan documents and the payment of claims." Ante, at 512 (citing Russell, 473 U. S., at 144). Since, in the majority's view, § 502(a)(1)(B) allows for individual recovery for fiduciary breach outside the framework created by §§ 409 and 502(a)(2), the majority wonders "[w]hy should we not conclude that Congress provided yet other remedies for yet other breaches of other sorts of fiduciary obligation in another, 'catchall' remedial section?" Ante, at 512.
The answer is simple. Contrary to the majority's understanding, § 502(a)(1)(B) does not create a cause of action for fiduciary breach, and Russell expressly rejected the claim that it does. Thus, the entire premise of the question is flawed. Section 502(a)(1)(B) deals exclusively with contractual rights under the plan. It allows a participant or beneficiary to bring a civil action "to recover benefits due to him under the terms of his plan, to enforce his rights under the terms of the plan, or to clarify his rights to future benefits under the terms of the plan." As we recognized in Russell, this provision "says nothing about the recovery of extracontractual damages." 473 U. S., at 144. If the justification for the Court's holding is that we should allow individual recovery for fiduciary breach under § 502(a)(3) since such recovery is available under § 502(a)(1)(B), then there really is no justification at all.
521
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