S.D. California cuts social security fee award 74.5%, including for clerical work
Case Name in Social Security Case - Unavailable, No. 3:23-cv-00640. District Court, S.D. California, Judge Hon. David D. Leshner. Decided . Read the opinion
- Requested
- $47,728.44
- Awarded
- $12,179.44
- Cut
- 74.5%$35,549
Social Security · Equal Access to Justice Act · Fee applicant's counsel: Law Offices of Alexandra Manbeck
What happened
The Law Offices of Alexandra Manbeck requested $47,728.44 in Equal Access to Justice Act fees for 162 hours in a social security case. The court awarded $12,179.44 for 49.05 hours. It deducted time for clerical tasks, vague entries, block billing, a mathematical error, excessive hours, and lack of an itemized statement, and applied 50% and 60% reductions to subsets of entries for limited success and block billing. It also declined a fee enhancement.
What the court said
The Court deducts 0.5 hours for filing the complaint.
The Court finds Plaintiff's entry "finalize plan for summary judgment" (6.75 hours, entry dated 7/30/23) does not describe the underlying activity with sufficient specificity
The Court applies a further 10% reduction for Plaintiff's counsel's liberal use of block billing
a 60% across-the-board reduction is appropriate given counsel's limited success and block-billed time entries
the Court finds updating records is a clerical task not properly included in an EAJA fee request
counsel failed to support this request with an itemized statement, as required by the statute
The court also reduced the award for: other, limited success, limited success, other, excessive hours, excessive hours, hourly rate reduced.
Why it matters
The ruling shows that courts will reduce EAJA fee awards when time records include clerical tasks, vague descriptions, block billing, and entries not supported by itemized statements, and will apply percentage cuts for limited success.
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
Case Name in Social Security Case - Unavailable, No. 3:23-cv-00640 (S.D. Cal. Apr. 28, 2025) See hourly rates the S.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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