D. Oregon cuts social security fee award 55.9%, including for clerical work

What happened

The plaintiff sought $34,188 in attorney fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act. The court awarded $15,090.06, a reduction of $19,097.94 or 55.9%. It cut 3.2 hours for clerical tasks billed as legal work and reduced several entries by 0.3 hours each because block billing mixed compensable and non-compensable services. It also reduced the time for drafting the complaint and the opening brief as excessive, and declined a rate enhancement above the cost-of-living adjustment.

What the court said

As an initial matter, reductions are necessary for hours spent on clerical tasks, as these are not compensable attorney time under the EAJA.

the following entries are each reduced by 0.3 because they represent a mixture of compensable and non-compensable services that the Court cannot accurately separate due to block billing

The court also reduced the award for: excessive hours, excessive hours, hourly rate reduced.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will separate clerical tasks from legal work and reduce entries that combine compensable and non-compensable time, even under a fee-shifting statute. It also confirms that a fee applicant must justify any rate above the cost-of-living adjustment and that excessive hours for discrete tasks can be trimmed.

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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