D. Kansas cuts social security fee award 60.1%, including for block billing

What happened

The fee applicant sought $46,946.31 under the Equal Access to Justice Act for 200.3 hours in a Social Security case. The court awarded $18,750.40 for 80.0 hours, a reduction of $28,195.91 or 60.1%. The court found the time spent researching, reviewing, and briefing very excessive and unreasonable for a case of this difficulty and for an attorney of counsel's experience. It also noted that most of the time was block billed, leaving the court unable to tell which tasks took how long or which reflected unreasonable time.

What the court said

Most of that time is block billed, and the court is therefore unable to ascertain which tasks required how much time and which tasks reflect an unreasonable amount of time.

The court also reduced the award for: excessive hours.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that block billing can defeat a fee request even when the court has already found the overall hours excessive. Without task-level detail, the court could not separate reasonable from unreasonable time, so it applied a substantial cut rather than reconstructing the entries itself.

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 D. Kansas approves.

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.