S.D. Florida cuts wage and hour fee award 10% over clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff in an FLSA wage and hour case requested $8,329.50 in attorney fees for 23.2 hours. The court awarded $7,496.55, a reduction of $832.95, or 10%. Rather than analyze each time entry, the court applied a single 10% cut to the total fee to account for clerical work billed as legal work and for block billing. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

Rather than conduct an hourly analysis of Plaintiff’s submission to account for all deficient time entries, the Undersigned will instead reduce the requested fees by 10%.

Rather than conduct an hourly analysis of Plaintiff’s submission to account for all deficient time entries, the Undersigned will instead reduce the requested fees by 10%.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts may apply a percentage cut to the whole fee request instead of reviewing each time entry when records show clerical tasks billed as legal work and block billing. It also shows that a single percentage reduction can address multiple recordkeeping problems at once.

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 S.D. Florida approves and attorney fee motions in Florida 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.