Eleventh Circuit Ends ERISA Exhaustion Requirement for Fiduciary-Breach Suits
Plan participants and ERISA defendants in the Eleventh Circuit now face a landscape where administrative exhaustion is no longer a precondition to suing over fiduciary breaches over plan investments.
The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit has joined other circuits in holding that ERISA fiduciary-breach claims need not be administratively exhausted before being brought in federal court, according to a Mayer Brown alert published 22 October 2026. The material provided does not name the case or docket number, so the panel, disposition, and any limits on the holding should be confirmed against the slip opinion.
Exhaustion has been a standard early-stage defense in ERISA stock-drop and related securities class actions brought on behalf of pension plans whose trustees are accused of breaching fiduciary duties over plan investment decisions. Defendants have routinely moved to dismiss for failure to exhaust plan remedies; removing that requirement in one circuit erases a recurring motion-to-dismiss argument and may redirect filings toward that court.
Counsel should assess how the decision interacts with ERISA's limitations periods, whether the court addressed parallel state-law claims, and whether plaintiffs will plead around exhaustion. Watch for the opinion's citation, its treatment elsewhere, and any en banc or certiorari response.