(January 8, 2016, 12:26 PM EST) -- WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Supreme Court should not grant certiorari to review the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals’ decision that the alleged “reasonableness” of a plan contract administrator’s fees was no defense to its self-dealing in violation of Employee Retirement Income Security Act Section 1106(b) because there is no split among the federal circuits that the ERISA statute and U.S. Department of Labor regulations expressly preclude such a defense, a respondent argues in a Dec. 29 response to a petition for writ of certiorari (California Association of Professional Firefighters, et al. v. David Barboza, No. 15-708, U.S. Sup.; 2015 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 4939; 2015 U.S. S. Ct. Briefs LEXIS 4402)....