Chuck

Kenneth Chuck appeals the district court’s grant of the summary judgment motion put forward by several Hewlett Packard Company defendants (collectively, “HP”). Chuck’s principal claim is that the Hewlett Packard Company Deferred Prof-ib-Sharing Retirement Plan (the “Plan”), which is governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”), 29 U.S.C. § 1001 et seq., owes him additional retirement benefits arising from his employment at HP until 1980. He also seeks relief for the Plan’s alleged breach of its fiduciary duties and for its failure to provide him with Plan-related documents as required by 29 U.S.C. §§ 1021-1024 .

At the heart of this case, we are faced with an issue of first impression in this circuit: whether ERISA’s statute of limitations may bar a claim for benefits notwithstanding a plan’s failure to fulfill its disclosure and review obligations under ERISA § 503, 29 U.S.C. § 1133 . We hold that a plan’s material violation of § 1133 is a factor that militates strongly against a finding that the statute of limitations has begun to run against a claimant, but that a compelling showing of circumstances in this case nevertheless indicates that Chuck’s…