The Supreme Court’s apparent holding that ERISA §502(a)(1)(B) is generally inapplicable to cases where summary documents conflict with formal plan documents bears little scrutiny. This apparent result raises at least four serious questions. First, did the Court intend to reach this broad...

In Kennedy v. Plan Administrator of the DuPont Savings and Investment Plan (the “Kennedy Decision”), a unanimous Supreme Court appeared to proclaim a “bright-line rule” that plan documents determine benefit distribution rights. However, by misreading ERISA and its own precedents, the...