The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit made clear its view that class-action plaintiffs lawyers generally should not be awarded fees that exceed the amount their clients get from a settlement as the court struck down a $1.7 million fee award in which the class received less than $53,000 in a royalties dispute settlement.

The three-judge panel, in a precedential decision last week, said the lower court wrongly calculated fees for plaintiffs’ counsel in a copyright case based on a settlement that provided for a fund of up to $20 million for class payouts. The district court should have instead looked at the amount actually obtained by those who made claims, here $52,841.05, the Ninth Circuit said.