E.D. California cuts disability access fee award 3.8% over clerical work | LegalTime AI

E.D. California cuts disability access fee award 3.8% over clerical work

Block v. Arsh & Jot LLC, No. 1:24-cv-00812. District Court, E.D. California, Judge Stanley A. Boone. Decided . Read the opinion

Requested
$1,624.50
Awarded
$1,562.50
Cut
3.8%$62

Disability access · Americans with Disabilities Act

What happened

The fee applicant sought $1,624.50 in attorney fees under the Americans with Disabilities Act in Block v. Arsh & Jot LLC. The magistrate judge recommended awarding $1,562.50, a reduction of $62. The court found 0.8 hours of entries to be generally clerical work and recommended reducing those entries to 0 hours. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

Clerical work billed as legal work
The Court finds these entries to be generally clerical work and recommends reducing them to 0 hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts review time entries for tasks that are clerical rather than legal in nature, and will reduce or eliminate those hours even when the overall cut is small. It illustrates that fee awards track the substance of the work recorded, not just the hours claimed.

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

Block v. Arsh & Jot LLC, No. 1:24-cv-00812 (E.D. Cal. Dec. 23, 2024)

See hourly rates the E.D. California approves and attorney fee motions in California 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.

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