Wells Fargo & Co will be traveling to the Midwest, to face a class action lawsuit in Minnesota federal court.  The suit was filed by investors who accuse the bank of improperly touting a securities lending program as safe when, in fact, it was risky. Judge Donovan Frank, of U.S. District Court in Minnesota, will preside.  In certifying the case as a class action on Tuesday, the Judge said disgruntled investors should proceed as a group because they had common issues and were sufficiently similar. Litigants. The City of Farmington Hills Employees Retirement System, a pension plan, sued Wells Fargo in October 2010 on behalf of 100 institutional investors over the bank's securities lending program.  In court papers, the plaintiffs said that, starting in 2006, they had invested funds in the lending program, which they said the bank advertised as safe and low-risk. But Wells Fargo instead invested the money in risky and illiquid financial products - e.g., mortgage backed securities - and in so doing had breached its fiduciary duty.  A spokesperson for Wells Fargo did not immediately return a request for comment on the ruling. The case is: The City of Farmington Hills Employees Retirement System v. Wells Fargo Bank, U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota, No. 10-4372. Brian Gudmundson of Zimmerman Reed will represent ... The City of Farmington Hills Employees Retirement System.  Brookes Poley of Winthrop & Weinstine will represent ... Wells Fargo Bank. For further details, go to:  [Reuters, 3/27/12].