South Florida attorneys secured a $25 million settlement from Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith for trustees and fiduciaries of retirement plans, a payment nearly three times the amount of the alleged losses.

The nearly 39,000-member class claimed Merrill Lynch did not fully repay them as part of a $79 million agreement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2014. The regulatory agreement recognized Merrill Lynch's failure to provide sales charge waivers for small business retirement accounts' mutual fund purchases.

Early in the case, class counsel persuaded a Miami federal judge that Merrill Lynch had a fiduciary duty to the plaintiffs under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act.