On September 20, 2018, the US Supreme Court
dismissed—pursuant to settlement—an ERISA lawsuit that
could have resolved the circuit split over who holds the burden of
proof in ERISA breach of fiduciary duty cases. In Pioneer
Centres Hold. v. Alerus Fin., Case No. 17-677 (2018), the
Pioneer Centres Holding Company Employee Stock Ownership Plan and
Trust (the "Plan" or "ESOP") and its trustees
sued Alerus Financial, N.A. (Alerus) for breach of fiduciary duty
in connection with the failure of a proposed employee stock
purchase. In affirming summary judgment in Alerus's favor, the
Tenth Circuit determined that the Plan carried the burden to prove
causation rather than shifting the burden to Alerus to disprove
causation once the Plan established a prima facie case. In so
holding, the Tenth Circuit agreed with the Sixth, Ninth and
Eleventh circuits that beneficiaries, not fiduciaries, must prove
causation between the company's conduct and the plan's
losses due to a fiduciary
