High Court Rules Against Suing Pension Advisers

WASHINGTON — Professional advisers to employee pension plans may not be sued for monetary damages for giving bad advice, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

In a case that was brought on behalf of pension recipients of Kaiser Steel Corp., in Oakland, the court said by a 5-4 vote that federal pension law does not authorize such lawsuits against outside consultants who do not have management control over pension plans.

Federal pension law “allocates liability for plan-related misdeeds in reasonable proportion to respective actors’ power to control and prevent the misdeeds,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the court in the case, Mertens vs. Hewitt Associates, 91-1671.