Eleventh Circuit cuts fee award 36.9%, including for clerical work

What happened

The fee applicant in Alan Grayson v. No Labels, Inc. sought $1,173,346. The Eleventh Circuit, in a per curiam ruling, awarded $740,710, a reduction of $432,636 or 36.9%. The court struck two time entries that mixed compensable legal tasks with non-compensable clerical tasks, cut one law firm's hours as duplicative, and reduced hourly rates after finding the defendants offered insufficient evidence of reasonableness, referring to rates from prior district court decisions.

What the court said

struck two entries because they included both compensable and non-compensable clerical tasks

The court also reduced the award for: duplicative staffing, hourly rate reduced.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that appellate courts will strike entries that combine legal and clerical tasks and will trim hours for duplicative staffing. It also shows that a fee applicant's rate evidence must be adequate, since the court looked to prior district court decisions when the record did not support the requested rates.

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

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.