S.D. Florida cuts fee award 20%, including for block billing

What happened

Bluegreen Vacations Unlimited sought attorney fees in its case against Timeshare Lawyers, P.A. The court did not state the total amount requested or awarded. Instead of an hour-by-hour review of all deficient time entries, the court reduced the requested fees by 20% for block billing. It then applied a further 20% reduction because of erroneous entries throughout the submissions. The reductions were applied to the total fee.

What the court said

Rather than conduct an hour-by-hour analysis of Bluegreen’s submissions to account for all deficient time entries, the Undersigned will instead reduce the requested fees by 20%.

The court also reduced the award for: other.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts may apply across-the-board percentage cuts rather than parse every time entry when records are block billed or contain errors. It also shows that separate recordkeeping problems can draw separate reductions, so the total cut can exceed the percentage tied to any one issue.

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 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.