Case Explained: POVER V. THE CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES, INC., ET AL.

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Filed: 2026-07-30 Docket: 2:23-cv-09657- The ninth circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of defendants’ motion to compel arbitration in a suit brought by a plan participant under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA). The court held that the retirement plan’s representative-action waiver, which prohibited claims brought on a “class, collective, or representative basis,” was unenforceable under the effective-vindication doctrine because it prevented the plaintiff from vindicating her statutory right to sue in a representative capacity on behalf of the plan for plan-wide relief. Under ERISA §§ 409(a) and 502(a)(2), breach-of-fiduciary-duty claims must be brought on behalf of the plan, and the waiver effectively barred this specific form of statutory remedy. Because the arbitration agreement contained an express severability clause stating that unenforceable representative waivers would result in court adjudication rather than arbitration, the court concluded the claims must proceed in federal court. Do It For The Case Law is a news reporting service. Nothing in this episode constitutes legal advice.