A court-appointed special master has recommended cutting more than $9 million off a legal fee request by plaintiffs lawyers involved in a $115 million class-action settlement of data breach litigation against health insurer Anthem Inc.

Pointing to duplicated efforts and excessive hourly billing rates for contract lawyers, special master James Kleinberg, a retired Santa Clara County superior court judge who is now a mediator and arbitrator at JAMS, recommended on Tuesday a legal fee award of $28.59 million to lawyers for the settlement class, plus just more than $2 million in expenses, according to his report.