By Mike Scarcella

July 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge has declined to approve $94 million in additional legal fees for a group of attorneys who already collected more than $269 million in fees for securing $1.2 billion in settlements with auto parts makers.

Chief U.S. District Judge Sean Cox in Detroit called the plaintiffs’ fee request "excessive" in a ruling on Friday.

Cox said the attorneys from law firms Susman Godfrey; Cotchett Pitre; and Robins Kaplan were owed more compensation for their latest and fifth settlement rounds. But the judge said the amount should be "far less" than $94 million and asked the lawyers to refile their request closer to the end of the settlement claims process.

The law firms represent consumer and commercial auto parts buyers who accused auto parts makers of conspiring to fix prices.

Companies including Denso; Hitachi Automotive; and Mitsubishi Electric were among dozens of defendants that settled with the plaintiffs in recent years. They all denied any wrongdoing. The litigation began in 2012, following a U.S. Justice Department probe of some manufacturers.

The plaintiffs' lawyers in May asked Cox to approve the additional fee award, covering legal work from 2019.

Several companies that are members of the class of parts buyers, including car rental dealers Hertz HTZ.O and Avis CAR.O, objected to the $94 million fee request, arguing that the lawyers had already been amply compensated.

Lawyers requesting the fees at Susman Godfrey; Cotchett Pitre; and Robins Kaplan did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Hertz and Avis did not immediately respond to similar requests.

In a court filing, the plaintiffs' lawyers said the $1.2 billion settlement was "believed to be the largest amount ever obtained on behalf of indirect purchasers in the history of U.S. antitrust litigation."

The case is In re Automotive Parts Antitrust Litigation, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, No. 2:12-md-02311.

Read more:

US judge admonishes Amazon over disclosures in FTC lawsuit over Prime service

Lawyers defend $205 million legal fee in US auto class action settlement

Class action administrators, banks accused of kickback scheme in new lawsuits

More lawyers join the $3,000-an-hour club, as other firms close in

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella)

((Mike.Scarcella@thomsonreuters.com;))