On Thursday afternoon Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel filed a settlement in a class-action lawsuit [PDF] involving former employees of the companies, agreeing to pay them $415 million. The 64,000 employees and former employees who made up the class alleged that their employers had agreed not to cold call or poach each others' employees, creating artificially low wages for the employees for years.

The Justice Department busted Apple, Google, Adobe, and Intel for their anti-competitive practices back in 2010, but the employees who lost out got together in an attempt to recover an estimated $3 billion in lost wages

Lucasfilm, Intuit, and Pixar were also named as defendants in the original suit, but those companies settled with their employees for $20 million early on in the litigation.

Last April, a deal between the plaintiffs' lawyers and the defendants' lawyers was reached to settle the class action suit for $324.5 million. But at least one representative plaintiff, freelance programmer Michael Devine, wrote to presiding Judge Lucy Koh saying that the settlement was “unfair and unjust.” He argued that the settlement was set up to benefit the lawyers more than the plaintiffs, and that the settlement divided between 64,000 people would come to about $5,000 per plaintiff—not even 1 percent of the high-tech employees' salaries at the time.

Judge Koh agreed with Devine and the plaintiffs and rejected the settlement in August, saying that the amount paid to the plaintiffs fell "below the range of reasonableness."

This new settlement agreement, at $415 million, will still only net each of the plaintiffs less than $6,500. In a motion for approval of the settlement, filed today, lawyers for the defendants stressed that after the initial settlement was rejected, renewed bargaining had been drawn out over several months until all parties came to an agreement. “The amount of this settlement is $90.5 million more than the parties’ prior settlement ... As Class Counsel are not seeking any additional fees or service awards, all of this additional consideration (except any attorneys’ fees awarded to Mr. Devine’s counsel and additional costs incurred) will go to the Class.”

The motion also suggested that the seemingly low amount of money awarded to each plaintiff was reasonable considering that the payout was guaranteed—had the case gone to trial, the award may have been lower or non-existent. “[T]he consideration—a total of $415 million—is substantial, particularly in light of the very real risk that the jury could find no liability or award no damages, and any jury verdict would be subject to appellate review,” the motion read.

The settlement includes a stipulation that the defendant companies won't object to the plaintiff class' Attorneys fees “so long as the request for fees is no greater than $81,125,000 (approximately 19.54 percent) of the $415 million Settlement Fund.” In addition, Michael Devine's lawyers will make a cut for pushing the lawsuit back to the bargaining table. “Devine Counsel will request Devine Counsel Fees in an amount not to exceed $4,525,000 (approximately 1.09 percent) of the $415 million Settlement Fund. Settling Defendants and Class Counsel retain the right to comment on or oppose any application for Devine Counsel Fees,” the motion read.