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Pegram v. Herdrich
(U.S. Supreme Court)
Definition of fiduciaries under ERISA
In an important decision bearing on the ongoing national debate about the quality of managed health care, the Supreme Court held 5/12 that treatment decisions made by the physician employees of a health maintenance organization (HMO) are not fiduciary acts within the meaning of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §§ 1001 et seq. (ERISA). The Supreme Court reversed the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision that HMO patients could sue HMOs and their physician employees for at least some treatment decisions under 29 U.S.C. § 1109(a), which authorizes suits against ERISA fiduciaries.
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