If a restorative payment is paid from a settlement for a retirement account, if attorney’s fees are taken out of it, are those considered a distribution or taxable income? If not, what’s the argument for that they are not.

Can attorney’s be paid out of nonretirement funds so the full amount of the settlement be returned to the retirement account? This article alluded to that the argument could be made for it. Are there any rulings about it since this was written?
www.kkwc.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/uf_Bruce_Steiner_Feature__Restorative_Payments.pdf

Thank you!