Supreme Court Won’t Review Lawsuit Against Fidelity, Deere

The Supreme Court decided not to review a 401(k) fee lawsuit against Deere and Fidelity that was dismissed by a U.S. District Court in 2007, and again rebuffed a U.S. Court of Appeals a year ago.

The suit, Hecker vs. Deere & Co., charged that Deere, Fidelity Management Trust and Fidelity Management & Research violated their fiduciary duties by charging unreasonable fees, accepting revenue-sharing fees from Fidelity and offering a lineup of mostly Fidelity proprietary funds.

The  original June 2007 ruling by Madison, Wis., U.S. District Court Judge John C. Shabaz said Deere’s $3.1 billion 401(k) plan complied with ERISA 404 (c), since it advised participants that they were responsible for their own investment decisions and that the Department of Labor does not require plan sponsors to reveal the receipt of revenue-sharing payments.

Fidelity spokeswoman Jenny Engle commented: “We’re pleased to see that there’s final resolution in this case for both Fidelity and our client. We continue to believe that we provide valuable service at a reasonable cost and that this decision was the correct one.”