The Sixth Circuit held that retirement plan participants were not required to exhaust their administrative remedies prior to bringing a claim alleging that a plan amendment violated ERISA. In so holding, the Court agreed with the opinions of the Third, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, Tenth, and D.C. Circuits and disagreed with the opinions of the Seventh and Eleventh Circuits. In the view of the Sixth Circuit, challenges that are “directed to the legality of the plan, not to a mere interpretation of it,” do not require exhaustion. The case is Hitchcock v. Cumberland Univ. 403(b) DC Plan, No. 16-5942, 2017 WL 971790 (6th Cir. Mar. 14, 2017).
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