Safeway Workers Can Use Expert to Challenge 401(k) Plan Fees

Safeway Inc. workers who sued over their 401(k) plan’s record-keeping fees and investment options won permission to introduce an expert witness who said the grocer’s plan fees were excessive.

The decision allowing expert testimony on the reasonableness of 401(k) record-keeping fees breaks rank from recent rulings excluding similar testimony in cases against Oracle Corp. and Insperity Inc. Experts in those cases were partially excluded after judges raised concerns about their methodologies for assessing 401(k) fees.

The Safeway workers can now rely on testimony from Roger Levy, a fiduciary consultant and attorney who founded and ran Cambridge Financial Services Inc. for ...