About two dozen Refco Inc. customers want the company to pick up a $4.3 million tab racked up by their lawyers, saying their work set the stage for a multibillion-dollar settlement that could allow the company to wrap up bankruptcy proceedings. In papers filed Wednesday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, the customers said they made a "substantial contribution" to Refco's Chapter 11 proceedings by suing the brokerage and getting a judge to distinguish their rights from those of other Refco creditors. That move, they said, "established the legal framework for these cases to proceed." U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain, who is overseeing Refco's bankruptcy case, is scheduled next week to consider a settlement involving more than 50 customers of Refco's Bermuda-based unit.