Cite as: 517 U. S. 882 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
showing, there can be no violation of § 406(a)(1) to warrant relief under the enforcement provisions. Cf. Peacock v. Thomas, 516 U. S. 349, 353 (1996) ("Section 502(a)(3) 'does not, after all, authorize "appropriate equitable relief" at large, but only "appropriate equitable relief" for the purpose of "redress[ing any] violations or . . . enforc[ing] any provisions" of ERISA' ") (quoting Mertens v. Hewitt Associates, 508 U. S. 248, 253 (1993)). The Court of Appeals erred by not asking whether fiduciary status existed in this case before it found a violation of § 406(a)(1)(D).3
A
We first address the allegation in Spink's complaint that Lockheed and the board of directors breached their fiduciary
indirect, with respect to any moneys or other property of such plan, or has any authority or responsibility to do so, or (iii) he has any discretionary authority or discretionary responsibility in the administration of such plan." 29 U. S. C. § 1002(21)(A).
3 Instead of pursuing this inquiry, the Court of Appeals found that Lockheed was a "party in interest" under § 3(14)(C), and asserted that "a party in interest who benefitted from an impermissible transaction can be held liable under ERISA." 60 F. 3d 616, 623 (CA9 1995). For that same proposition, several Courts of Appeals have relied on statements in Mertens v. Hewitt Associates, 508 U. S. 248 (1993), that "ERISA contains various provisions that can be read as imposing obligations upon nonfiduciaries," id., at 253-254; see also id., at 254, n. 4 (citing § 406(a)), and that "[p]rofessional service providers . . . must disgorge assets and profits obtained through participation as parties-in-interest in transactions prohibited by § 406," id., at 262. See, e. g., Reich v. Stangl, 73 F. 3d 1027, 1031-1032 (CA10 1996), cert. pending, No. 95-1631; Landwehr v. DuPree, 72 F. 3d 726, 733-734 (CA9 1995); Reich v. Compton, 57 F. 3d 270, 285 (CA3 1995). Insofar as they apply to § 406(a), these statements in Mertens (which were in any event dicta, since § 406(a) was not at issue) suggest liability for parties in interest only when a violation of § 406(a) has been established— which, as we have discussed, requires a showing that a fiduciary caused the plan to engage in the transaction in question. The Court of Appeals thus was not necessarily wrong in saying that "a party in interest who benefitted from an impermissible transaction can be held liable under ERISA" (emphasis added); but the only transactions rendered impermissible by § 406(a) are transactions caused by fiduciaries.
889
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