S.D. Florida cuts social security fee award 2% over clerical work

What happened

The fee applicant sought $7,308.17 under the Equal Access to Justice Act in a social security case. The court awarded $7,162.72, a reduction of $145.45 or 2.0%. The court agreed with the defendant that some time entries were clerical and reduced the compensable hours billed in 2020 from 4.2 to 3.5, a cut of 0.7 hours. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

Because we agree that some of the time entries identified by Defendant are clerical, we recommend reducing the total compensable hours billed in 2020 from 4.2 hours to 3.5 hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work when reviewing time records on a fee petition, and will reduce the hours billed for clerical entries even when the overall cut is small.

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 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.