S.D. Texas cuts fee award 25%, including for clerical work

What happened

The applicant firm, Clark, Love & Hutson, GP, requested $99,126 in fees for 158.1 hours. The court awarded $74,344.50, a reduction of $24,781.50, or 25%. It applied a 20% cut to the total fee for excessive or redundant billing, including overstaffing, and a 5% cut for billing administrative, clerical, or menial tasks as legal work. The figures do not include costs.

What the court said

This amount represents 20% for excessive or redundant billing, including issues of overstaffing, and 5% for billing administrative, clerical, or menial tasks.

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

Why it matters

The ruling shows that courts will reduce a fee award when time records show duplicated effort across staff or entries for clerical tasks billed at legal rates. It also shows that a court may apply percentage cuts to the total fee rather than parse individual entries.

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. 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.