W.D. Texas cuts fee award 73.2%, including for clerical work

What happened

Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann, LLP sought $17,141.85 in fees. The court awarded $4,592.25, a reduction of $12,549.6 or 73.2%. It disallowed 0.4 hours of paralegal time for calendaring and reviewing response times under the Local Rules as clerical, not legal. It also eliminated 6 hours as duplicative of another timekeeper's work, 6.6 hours for a response never filed, 5.3 hours of travel from Dallas to Austin, and 7 hours for a presentation not shown at the hearing.

What the court said

First, the Court disallows the .4 hours billed for paralegal time spent calendaring and reviewing response times under the Local Rules. Dkt. 45-1 at 13. These tasks are clerical, not legal.

The court also reduced the award for: duplicative staffing, excessive hours, travel time, excessive hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work when reviewing time records, and will cut hours for work that was duplicative, unnecessary, or not used. It also shows that entries for travel and preparation can be reduced when the court finds them excessive or redundant.

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 W.D. Texas approves and attorney fee motions in Texas federal courts.

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