The sisters accused the brother, Ben Hill Griffin III, of stealing $4.4 million from the $300 million family trust, by inflating his salary as trustee and head of three family-owned companies.

Settlement terms were not filed with the court or disclosed publicly. But lawyers following the case and familiar with the Griffin family's properties tell GlobeSt.com the settlement will at least equal a similar arrangement the sisters won from their brother in 1998 after a similar battle.

In that settlement, according to court-filed documents, the sisters each won $4 million in cash; an additional $312,500 each in cash for lost dividends; and $5 million each in a 20-year bond earning 8% annual interest. The interest equates to $400,000 a year to each of the sisters.

The non-jury trial, before Polk Circuit Court Judge Michael Hunter opened March 26 and was expected to last at least two weeks.

Ben Hill Griffin III, 59, of nearby Frostproof, FL, denies all of his sisters' allegations and contends he has been operating the family's three firms legally and profitably.

The companies are Ben Hill Griffin Inc., Alico Inc. and Orange-co Inc. Griffin sold the family's interest in Orange-co in 1999 for $70 million. He pays himself an annual salary of $1.2 million.

Ben Hill Griffin Jr. died in 1990. He named his son as trustee of the family fortune. The sisters are Harriet Harris, 66, of Bartow; Sarah Jane Alexander, 64, of Frostproof; Lucy Anne Collier, 60, of Frostproof; and Francie G. Milligan, 51, of Great Britain.