Judge says Kraft retirement fund lawsuit to go on

BOSTON, March 29 (Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Thursday that a lawsuit alleging that Kraft Foods Global Inc. (KFT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) charged participants in its 401(k) retirement unreasonable fees can proceed.

A handful of workers sued Northfield, Illinois-based Kraft Foods, which makes food products Jell-O, Oreo cookies, and Maxwell House coffee, allegedly the company's retirement plan paid high fees to service providers.

"The Court finds that Plaintiffs' complaint easily withstands scrutiny," Judge David Herndon of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois wrote. He also said the case will be transferred to the Northern District of Illinois.

This lawsuit is one of a handful brought by St. Louis law firm Schlichter, Bogard & Denton that charged investors in various company retirement funds were hurt because of excessively high service fees.

In this case, the plaintiffs charged the Kraft retirement plan paid consultants Hewitt Associates nearly $3.4 million for record-keeping services in 2004, an amount they found to be unreasonable.

Neither Jerome Schlichter, who filed the suit, nor Kraft officials were immediately available to comment.

Late last year, workers at Deere & Co. (DE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) claimed Fidelity Investments charged them "unreasonable" fees and expenses to manage their retirement savings in a similar lawsuit also brought by Schlichter.

((Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss, editing by J.S. Benkoe; Reuters Messaging:svea.herbst.reuters.com@reuters.net;617 367 4171)) Keywords: KRAFT/LAWSUIT

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