“Although it is well settled that ERISA plan beneficiaries must exhaust administrative remedies prior to bringing a suit for recovery on an individual claim, we have not yet decided whether a beneficiary must exhaust administrative remedies prior to bringing claims based on statutory rights, such as Sections 1104 and 1105 fiduciary-duty claims. Instead, we have resolved such cases on the grounds that exhaustion would be futile or that the fiduciary-duty claim is merely a repackaged claim for individual benefits which the beneficiary must administratively exhaust before filing suit. Because requiring the Plaintiffs to exhaust administrative remedies would be futile in this case, we again find it unnecessary to decide the more difficult issue of whether exhaustion of administrative remedies should be required for statutorily created rights.” Hill v. Blue Cross & Blue Shield, No. 03-2607, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 8446, 2005 FED App. 0216P (6th Cir. May 13, 2005).
0 Comments