W.D. Texas cuts civil rights fee award 15.1%, including for block billing

What happened

The Packard Firm, counsel for the fee applicant in Castro v. Kory et al, requested $674,773 in fees under 42 U.S.C. Section 1988. Judge Xavier Rodriguez awarded $572,902.63, a reduction of $101,870.37 or 15.1%. The court reduced the hours of Paul Jones and Brian Jones by 10% each, to 653.6 and 517.9 hours. It also reduced Mr. Khavari's hours by 10% to account for vague entries, block billing, difficulty in assessing reasonableness, and duplication of efforts. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

Here, the Court finds a 10% reduction of Mr. Khavari’s hours is appropriate to account for the vagueness of certain entries, his use of block billing, and the Court’s difficulty in determining whether his hours were reasonable, along with any duplication of efforts.

Here, the Court finds a 10% reduction of Mr. Khavari’s hours is appropriate to account for the vagueness of certain entries, his use of block billing, and the Court’s difficulty in determining whether his hours were reasonable, along with any duplication of efforts.

The court also reduced the award for: other, duplicative staffing.

Why it matters

The ruling shows that a court will cut hours when time entries are vague or block billed, and when it cannot readily assess whether the hours were reasonable. It also shows that reductions may be applied timekeeper by timekeeper rather than across the whole fee request.

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 W.D. Texas approves and attorney fee motions in Texas 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.