An award of $57,000 in legal fees, in an employment case where the plaintiff recovered about $8,000 at trial and her lawyers sought some $360,000 in fees, was affirmed by a New Jersey appeals court.

“It is inexplicable to us how the amounts requested were accumulated given the factual circumstances behind the claim,” the Appellate Division said in Lema v. BTS Holdings, a per curiam decision issued Jan. 18.