D. Oregon cuts ERISA benefits fee award 7.2% over clerical work

What happened

The Board of Trustees of the Oregon Sheet Metal Workers' Master Retirement Trust, represented by Bennett Hartman, sought $7,030 in ERISA fees. Judge Amy M. Baggio awarded $6,520, a reduction of $510 or 7.2%. The court disallowed 4.2 hours of paralegal time billed for purely clerical entries. For clerical tasks block billed with non-clerical tasks on three dates, the court assumed 0.3 hours of clerical work per entry, totaling 0.9 hours, and reduced the award accordingly.

What the court said

For the purely clerical entries, 4.2 hours of paralegal time was billed. Those fees should be disallowed.

As to the clerical tasks that were block billed together with non-clerical tasks on 1/9/24, 3/7/24, and 11/13/24, the court will assume based on similar entries that the clerical components of those tasks took 0.3 hours, for a total of 0.9 hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts separate clerical tasks from legal work on fee petitions and will disallow paralegal time spent on clerical entries. It also shows that when clerical and non-clerical tasks are block billed together, a court may estimate the clerical portion rather than deny the entire entry.

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 D. Oregon approves and attorney fee motions in Oregon federal courts.

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