Whether burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under ERISA's fiduciary enforcement provisions

QUESTION PRESENTED This case raises a long-unresolved question at the heart of ERISA’s fiduciary enforcement provisions. The Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) codifies the trust law rule that fiduciaries “shall be personally liable” for all “losses to the plan resulting from” each breach of fiduciary duty. 29 U.S.C. § 1109(a). Yet the circuits are split over whether ERISA adopts trust law’s burden-shifting framework for adjudicating such claims. Five circuits follow trust law. They hold that, under § 1109(a), once the establish breach and a related loss, the burden shifts to the to disprove to show that the loss would have occurred even absent the breach. Two circuits, including the Eleventh Circuit in the opinion below, reject trust law. They hold that burden-shifting does not apply to claims under § 1109(a). Relatedly, without squarely addressing whether burden-shifting applies, three circuits have stated that plaintiffs must plead or prove some causal link. The question presented is whether, consistent with trust law, burden-shifting applies to the element of causation under 29 U.S.C. § 1109(a).