Approving nearly half a million dollars in plaintiffs’ attorney fees in a fair wages dispute, a federal judge in Pennsylvania determined Monday the rate and hours of attorneys from Winebrake & Santillo were reasonable, citing the magnitude of the underlying litigation.

In a Sept. 16 decision, U.S. District Judge Christy Criswell Wiegand of the Western District of Pennsylvania awarded $433,150 in attorney fees to the plaintiff, Darlene McDonnell, after a jury awarded her $250,000 in unpaid wages in the case captioned McDonnell v. KRG Kings. Wiegand rejected arguments from defendant KRG’s counsel, Ogletree Deakins, who claimed the plaintiffs’ three attorneys’ 1,000 hours logged at hourly rates, ranging from $250 to $500, were unreasonable.