(February 12, 2018, 8:27 AM EST) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should deny a petition for writ of certiorari filed by an employee stock ownership plan and trust seeking a decision on whether the Employee Retirement Income Security Act shifts the burden of persuasion on causation to the defendant once a plaintiff has shown a prima facie case of loss because the facts of the case don’t actually present that question, a financial company argues in its Feb. 5 brief in opposition (The Pioneer Centres Holding Company Stock Ownership Plan, et al. v. Alerus Financial, N.A., No. 17-667, U.S. Sup.)....