CASEY CUNNINGHAM, ET AL., PETITIONERS v . CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ET AL., 145 S. Ct. 1020

Summary

HOLDINGS: [1]-Plaintiffs seeking to state an Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C.S. § 1106(a)(1)(C), claim must plausibly allege that a plan fiduciary engaged in a transaction proscribed therein, no more, no less; [2]-Plaintiffs are not required to plead and prove that the myriad of 29 U.S.C.S. § 1108 exemptions pose no barrier to ultimate relief; [3]-Section 1108 sets out affirmative defenses, so it is defendant fiduciaries who bear the burden of pleading and proving that a § 1108 exemption applies to an otherwise prohibited transaction under 29 U.S.C.S. § 1106, not the plaintiffs in the action.