Eleventh Circuit ends ERISA exhaustion requirement for statutory claims
In Bolton v. Inland Fresh Seafood, the full Eleventh Circuit overruled its 1985 Mason precedent, holding ERISA contains no administrative exhaustion requirement for statutory claims such as breach of fiduciary duty and retaliation.
On October 13, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, sitting as a full court with Judge Adalberto Jordan writing, overruled Mason v. Continental Group, Inc., 763 F.2d 1219 (11th Cir. 1985) and held that ERISA itself contains no administrative exhaustion requirement for statutory claims. The court described the prior rule as "an atextual product of judicial creation based solely on policy reasons" and reasoned that courts cannot add to or subtract from statutory text; it also noted the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Ninth, Tenth and D.C. Circuits have already rejected exhaustion for statutory ERISA claims, with the Seventh Circuit addressing it only on a discretionary basis. The holding applies retroactively. Importantly, the decision does not disturb exhaustion for claims for plan benefits; it removes the internal-appeals prerequisite for statutory claims such as breach of fiduciary duty and retaliation. For employers and plan sponsors in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, two steps follow: expect more ERISA fiduciary-duty and retaliation suits that previously had to clear an internal claims process, and audit plan documents and summary plan descriptions to confirm any exhaustion language covering benefit claims is mandatory rather than permissive. Watch how district courts apply the new rule.