5th Circuit Notes Split Re Whether an ERISA Claimant Needs to Establish Reliance and/or Prejudice Based Conflicting Terms of an SPD

Per Washington v. Murphy Oil USA, Inc., 497 F.3d 453 (5th Cir.(La.) Aug 16, 2007) (NO. 05-31063):

FN1. We certainly do not write on a clean slate. Indeed, there appears to be a five-way circuit split regarding whether an ERISA claimant needs to establish reliance and/or prejudice based on the conflicting terms of an SPD [summary plan description]. The Third and Sixth Circuits do not require a showing of reliance. See Burstein v. Ret. Account Plan for Employees of Allegheny Health Edu. and Research Found., 334 F.3d 365, 380-82 (3d Cir.2003); Edwards v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 851 F.2d 134, 137 (6th Cir.1988). The Second Circuit also does not require a showing of reliance, but does require a showing of a likelihood of prejudice, which an employer may then rebut through evidence that the deficient SPD was in effect a harmless error. See Burke v. Kodak Ret. Income Plan, 336 F.3d 103, 111-14 (2d Cir.2003). The Seventh and Eleventh Circuits require a showing of reliance. See Health Cost Controls of Illinois, Inc. v. Washington, 187 F.3d 703, 711 (7th Cir.1999); Branch v. G. Bernd Co., 955 F.2d 1574, 1579 (11th Cir.1992). The First, Fourth, and Tenth Circuits require a showing of reliance or prejudice, though it appears that the terms "reliance" and "prejudice" are sometimes treated synonymously. See Govoni v. Bricklayers, Masons & Plasterers International Union, Local No. 5 Pension Fund, 732 F.2d 250, 252 (1st Cir.1984); Aiken v. Policy Management Sys. Corp., 13 F.3d 138, 141 (4th Cir.1993); Chiles v. Ceridian Corp., 95 F.3d 1505, 1519 (10th Cir.1996). Finally, the Eighth Circuit requires a showing of reliance or prejudice, but only if the SPD is "faulty." See Palmisano v. Allina Health Sys., 190 F.3d 881, 887-88 (8th Cir.1999); Marolt v. Alliant Techsystems, 146 F.3d 617, 621-22 (1998).