July 29 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Monday threw

out a legal fee award of $78 million for plaintiffs' lawyers in

a $350 million class action settlement with T-Mobile, calling

the amount a "windfall" for the effort the attorneys put into

the case.

The St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled

3-0 that the awarded amount was excessive based on the hours of

legal work expended by the lawyers behind the consumer privacy

case, which T-Mobile agreed to settle in 2022.

"If we permitted the fee award here to stand, it would mean

that counsel could make $7,000 to $9,500 an hour, which we think

no reasonable class member would willingly pay to an attorney to

help resolve this claim," Circuit Judge Morris Arnold wrote in

the ruling, joined by Chief Circuit Judge Steven Colloton and

Circuit Judge Raymond Gruender.

The T-Mobile settlement resolved privacy claims involving

an estimated 76 million T-Mobile customers whose personal

information was compromised in a cyber breach the year before.

T-Mobile denied any wrongdoing in the settlement.

T-Mobile and lawyers for two class members who objected to

the attorney fees did not immediately respond to requests for

comment on Monday.

One of the class attorneys, Brad Wilders, in a statement

said they "look forward to getting the relief in the hands of

class members as soon as possible on remand."

The appeals court said the plaintiffs' lawyers for a matter

of months had "represented the class well, and they obtained a

significant result."

But, the panel said, "the case had barely gotten off the

ground before it settled, and counsel hadn't yet invested the

time and effort to yield a return like the one the court

awarded."

The panel said reducing the fee amount by half - to about

$39 million - would not harm the class attorneys because the

hourly rate would amount to $3,500 to $4,750.

The court declined to rule that a judge must always award a

lowered percentage in "megafund" cases where the settlement is

above $100 million.

It said determining fees in such a case is a "wide-ranging

inquiry that seeks to account for a variety of case-specific

circumstances."

The cases are Daruwalla v. Hampe and Daruwalla v. Pentz, 8th

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 23-2744 and 23-2798.

For objectors: Robert Clore of Bandas Law Firm; and John

Pentz

For class: Norman Siegel and Bradley Wilders of Stueve

Siegel Hanson; James Pizzirusso of Hausfeld; and Cari Campen

Laufenberg of Keller Rohrback

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