A recent Law 360 story by Emily Brill, “JPMorgan Workers’ Counsel Seek $3M Fee in ERISA Deal,” reports that the attorneys for roughly 250,000 current and former JPMorgan Chase & Co. workers have asked a New York federal judge to approve $2.97 million in fees for their work securing a $9 million settlement in an ERISA class action over 401(k) plan investments.

The class urged U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman to grant their fee request in a memorandum in support of a motion for attorney fees and expenses.  The Employee Retirement Income Security Act class action, which was settled in April, accused JPMorgan of profiting at its workers' expense by filling the 401(k) plan with expensive investment options managed by company affiliates.

The class told Judge Furman that the fee request is reasonable considering their attorneys have been working on a contingent basis since January 2017.  The requested fee in the "hard-fought, well-developed litigation" also reflects a discount of those attorneys' typical hourly rates, the class said.

"This request is justified by plaintiffs' counsel's commitment of time and resources to this litigation in the face of the very real and concrete risk of receiving no remuneration at all, as well as the substantial recovery they achieved for class members in light of the significant hurdles faced in reaching this result," the class wrote in the memorandum.