Advisory Opinions

Requests for interpretations and other rulings under Title 1 of ERISA are handled by the Office of Regulations and Interpretations under the provisions established by ERISA Procedure 76-1. The office answers inquiries from individuals and organizations in the form of advisory opinions, which apply the law to a specific set of facts, or information letters, which merely call attention to well established principles or interpretations.

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**1981**
AO/ Date/ Reference	Recipient	Description of Request
1981-21A 02/09/1981 104 3(1) 403(a) 404(a)(1) 514(a)	Steven L. Ross, Esq. Robins, Davis & Lyons 33 South Fifth Street Minneapolis, Minnesota 55402	Whether the Trust and the Committee may continue to operate in the manner outlined in the letter. As stated in your submission of September 14, 1979, of particular concern in this regard is the requirement in section 403(a) of ERISA that, in general, the assets of an employee benefit plan
1981-20A 02/09/1981	Mr. Lawrence J. Hass Groom & Nordberg Suite 450 1775 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006	Whether the sale of the King of Prussia Park Trust (King of Prussia) by Citibank, as trustee for employee benefit plans, to RREEF USA FUND-I (RREEF) did not constitute a prohibited transaction under sections 406 and 407 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and section 4975(c)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (IRC).
1981-19A 02/05/1981	Ms. Jane B. Stranch Branstetter, Moody & Kilgore 200 Church Street Fourth Floor Nashville, Tennessee 37201	Whether the Remembrance Fund of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada, AFL-CIO, Local 572 (the Remembrance Fund) is exempted from the reporting and disclosure provisions of ERISA.
1981-18A 02/02/1981	Mr. G. Boone Smith, III Jones, Cork, Miller & Benton 500 First National Bank Building Macon, Georgia 31298	Whether the Plan is neither an employee welfare benefit plan within the meaning of ERISA section 3(1) nor an employee pension benefit plan within the meaning of ERISA section 3(2).
1981-17A 01/29/1981 103(a)	Mr. J. Robert Ash Employers Dental Services, Inc. 4431 East Broadway Tucson, Arizona 85711	Whether an "Employer Group Agreement" between Employer Dental Services, Inc. (EDS) and an employer sponsoring a prepaid dental plan, under which EDS agrees to provide specified dental benefits to employees and their eligible dependents is an insurance contract or policy issued by an insurance company or similar organization which is qualified to do business in a state for purposes of 29 C.F.R. §2520.104-20(b)(ii).
1981-16A 01/23/1981 3(1) 3(2)	Mr. J. Michael Wylie Moore & Peterson 2400 One Dallas Centre Dallas, Texas 75201	Whether the Trust, created by employees of Natural Resource Management Corporation (NRMC) and its subsidiaries for the purpose of acquiring a general partnership interest in NRM 81-1, Ltd., a Texas limited partnership, is an "employee pension benefit plan" within the meaning of section 3(2) of ERISA, or an "employee welfare benefit plan" within the meaning of section 3(1) of ERISA.
1981-15A 01/23/1981	Mr. Stanley D. Heisler Heisler, Van Valkenburgh & Coats 214 East Fifth Street The Dalles, Oregon 97058	Whether the Plan is exempt from the provisions of ERISA by virtue of its being a "governmental plan" within the meaning of 29 U.S.C. §1002 (ERISA section 3(32)).
1981-14A 01/23/1981	Mr. Courts Oulahan 702 Longfellow Building 1201 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036	Whether the plan is a governmental plan within the meaning of ERISA section 3(32) and, thus, is excluded from ERISA title I coverage by ERISA section 4(b)(1).
1981-13A 01/16/1981 404(a)(1)	Mr. S. E. Clark Senior Vice President and Senior Trust Officer City National Bank Wilshire Boulevard at Roxbury Drive Beverly Hills, California 90210	Whether the diversification requirement of section 404(a)(1)(C) of ERISA is met in the case of a plan which has invested in the limited partnership, the investments of the limited partnership are to be considered investments of the plan. Whether the Trustee would be considered prudent under section 404 of ERISA for making such investments and be obligated to monitor these investments.
1981-12A 01/15/1981 404(a)(1) 408(b)(1)	Robert A. Georgine, Chairman National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans Suite 603 815 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20006	The application of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to investment programs under which multiemployer plans may offer mortgage loans to plan participants and beneficiaries.