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Consider these circumstances: An individual-account retirement plan that includes a 401(k) arrangement allows a distribution as needed to meet a participant's hardship need. A participant submits a claim for such a distribution. The plan's administrator approves the claim, and instructs the plan's trustee to pay the requested distribution. But had the administrator read the participant's claim, it would have known that the participant was not entitled to a hardship distribution. Assuming the plan is ERISA-governed, does the participant have a viable claim against the administrator for its approval of the participant's claim. If there is such a claim, why is it viable or not viable? If there is a claim, what is the measure of the losses that result from the administrator's breach? I guess a court would dismiss a participant's claim. But perhaps I suffer from a failure of imagination. Can anyone pull together a claim a court would recognize?