CONCORD, New Hampshire (Bloomberg) ¿ A judge said he plans to approve Tyco International Ltd.'s $3.2 billion settlement of suits by investors who accused the company of inflating revenue during the tenure of former chief executive officer L. Dennis Kozlowski.

"I'm satisfied the amount of this settlement is an outstanding result" for investors, US District Judge Paul Barbadoro said on Friday at a hearing in Concord, New Hampshire, adding there will be a "substantial attorney fee award." He didn't make a fee award.

Former executives of Bermuda-based Tyco, the world's biggest maker of security systems, overstated the company's income by $5.8 billion under Kozlowski. Shareholders contended the company lost more than $100 billion in market value because of the fraud. Barbadoro said he would consider objections to the settlement before giving final approval.

Kozlowski and former chief financial officer Mark Swartz are serving 8 ? to 25 years in New York state prison for stealing more than $150 million in unauthorized bonuses and defrauding shareholders of Tyco of millions more.

Investors alleged in their lawsuits that the two also orchestrated a scheme to manipulate the company's earnings and defraud shareholders.

"This is a case we were prepared to try if we had to," David Boies, a Tyco lawyer, said in court. "This is an outstanding result for investors."

Kozlowski was forced to step down as CEO in 2002. Tyco agreed in April 2006 to pay $50 million to settle government regulators' claims over flawed accounting.

Three law firms are seeking a record $464 million in legal fees for their work in winning settlements from Tyco and it's a former auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. The firms, Grant & Eisenhofer, Milberg Weiss and Shiffrin, Barroway, Topaz & Kessler, plan to ask the judge overseeing fraud lawsuits against Tyco to approve the amount, 14.5 percent of the settlement, which they said in court papers would be the biggest ever in a securities-fraud settlement.

In their request, the lawyers for Tyco's shareholders claim the fee is justified by their "tireless effort" which included 488,468 hours of legal work.

Under the settlement, Tyco, the world's biggest maker of electrical relays and connectors, agreed to pay $2.98 billion. PricewaterhouseCoopers agreed to pay $225 million.

The requested fee award would pay the plaintiffs' firms an average $352.26 hourly rate for work that included reviewing 83.5 million documents and taking 220 depositions, the lawyers said in their papers. Eleven investors, including four institutional investors, objected to the fee request, the lawyers said.