N.D. Texas cuts commercial fee award 31.5%, including for block billing

What happened

Ferguson Braswell Fraser & Kubasta PC sought $666,363.80 in fees under a contract fee clause for 1,691.5 hours. The court awarded $456,333.17, a reduction of $210,030.63 or 31.5%. It cut $46,294.57 for fees on unrelated claims and $11,625 for block-billed entries, treating each as one hour at the requested hourly rate. It then reduced the lodestar by 25% for duplicative staffing and vague entries, applying a 0.75 multiplier.

What the court said

If the Court assumes that each entry reflects one hour of work, billed at Balboa’s requested hourly rate of $375 per hour, that results in $11,625.00 of additional unrecoverable fees incurred by FBFK beginning in June of 2019

the vagueness of certain entries in Movants’ billing records, discussed previously, undermines the Court’s ability to determine the extent to which the lodestar should be reduced

The court also reduced the award for: unrelated claims, duplicative staffing.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate recordkeeping problems from other reductions. Block billing drew a specific dollar cut, while vague entries contributed to a percentage reduction of the whole lodestar. It also shows a contract fee clause does not insulate a fee request from scrutiny of the time records.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Record one task per entry, each with its own time.
• Write the entry when the work happens, not at the end of the week.
• If a task really is one unit of work, say what it was and what it produced.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the N.D. Texas approves and attorney fee motions in Texas 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.