Acosta v. Vinoskey

NORMAN K. MOON, SENIOR UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Congress enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, or *666ERISA, to protect employees and the benefit plans employers create for them. Congress did this by imposing high standards of fiduciary duty on plan administrators and banning certain types of transactions with "interested parties." These transactions with interested parties are banned because they present opportunities for employer self-dealing at the employees' expense. But one specific type of benefit plan envisioned by ERISA is an employee stock ownership plan, or an…