D. Colorado cuts commercial fee award 16.9%, including for clerical work

What happened

AECOM Technical Services sought $9,981,188.75 in fees under a contract fee clause, with Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP as counsel. The court awarded $8,293,733.56, a reduction of $1,687,455.19. Deductions included $31,272 for missing Local Rule 54.3(b) information, $90,900 from a rate reduction, $1,848.01 for unrelated claims, $12,926.50 for show cause briefing, $4,319.47, and $62,193 for redoing the costs motion. A global 3% cut addressed clerical work, duplicative staffing, block billing, and excessive hours, and a global 15% cut addressed allocation between affirmative and defensive matters.

What the court said

the Court concludes a global 3% reduction, amounting to a $301,773.20 deduction, is proportionate to redress the deficiencies identified in this section.

the Court concludes a global 3% reduction, amounting to a $301,773.20 deduction, is proportionate to redress the deficiencies identified in this section.

The court also reduced the award for: other, hourly rate reduced, unrelated claims, other, other, other, duplicative staffing, excessive hours, unrelated claims.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will apply global percentage cuts when time records mix clerical and legal work, use block billing, or do not separate related claims. It also shows that missing local rule information and vague allocation can produce separate deductions, so the total reduction reflects several recordkeeping and billing issues rather than one.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Leave purely clerical work off the fee petition.
• Describe paralegal tasks so the substantive work is clear.
• Split mixed entries into their substantive and clerical parts.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the D. Colorado approves and attorney fee motions in Colorado federal courts.

Figures and quotes are taken from the opinion and checked against its text. Spot an error? Email team@legaltime.ai with the case name and we will correct it. Summaries of public court opinions. Not legal advice.