Kraft settles litigation alleging 401(k) mismanagement

CHICAGO—A judge has given final approval to a $9.5 million settlement by Kraft Global Foods Inc. with a plaintiff law firm that sued over management of Kraft’s 401(k) plan.

On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan R. Nolan, of federal district court in Chicago, signed the final order authorizing the case’s settlement.

According to a joint statement released in February when the settlement was announced, Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft and St. Louis-based plaintiff law firm Schlichter, Bogard & Denton L.L.P. agreed to resolve two lawsuits in Gerald George et al. vs. Kraft Foods Global et al., which were proposed class actions.

The litigation alleged that fiduciaries responsible for overseeing Kraft’s 401(k) plan breached their duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 by allowing the plan to pay excessive investment management and other fees, and by maintaining excessive cash in the company stock investment funds.

The initial complaint, filed in September 2006, had been scheduled to proceed to trial this year.