On May 19, 2005, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit held that accountants who received plan contributions, deposited them into their business account, and then wrote checks for the amount of the contribution on behalf of the plan were fiduciaries. Rejecting the argument that these responsibilities were “ministerial”, the court re-affirmed the distinction in the ERISA statute between plan management or administration (which must be “discretionary”) and control over plan assets (“any” authority or control), noting that “the practical reality is that Mr. Madsen had total control over the plan’s money while it was in his account” which is “precisely while control over assets is treated differently than control over management.”Coldesina v. The Estate of Greg P. Simper, 407 F.3d 1126 (10th Cir. 2005).
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